The secret of stable dust
Findings open up new ways of treating sick children
For small children, it acts like a protective elixir against asthma and other allergies from birth: the dust from the traditional cowshed. Researchers are keenly interested in exactly what causes this effect. However, deciphering it in terms of allergy prevention is a lengthy process, but one that has now taken another step forward: researchers at the Dr. von Hauner Children's Hospital at LMU Klinikum have analyzed how cells of the immune system react to cowshed dust and thus contribute to the "protective farm effect". The results were recently published in the journal "Allergy".
The hygiene hypothesis is now well established in the scientific community. Tenor: The child's immune system should be "trained", especially in the preschool years, through regular contact with certain "good" microorganisms. The immune system must learn not to overreact and not to attack harmless substances or turn against the body's own structures.
Dust from the cowshed has a preventive effect
Researchers at the Dr. von Hauner Children's Hospital at the LMU Clinic in Munich have shown that frequent and continuous contact between young children and the farm environment, in particular with dust from the cowshed, has a preventive effect. Children growing up there, for example, develop significantly less asthma than those who live in the city. Based on these findings from epidemiological studies, scientists are researching the fundamentals of this phenomenon in their laboratories around the world.
What changes in the immune system as a result of stimulation with stable dust?
On the one hand, they want to know which specific substances or microorganisms trigger the protective effect. On the other hand, they are interested in what exactly changes in the immune system so that it does not attack the body's own or harmless structures and a healthy balance of the immune system is established. A team led by Prof. Dr. Bianca Schaub has now taken a major step forward in this direction. Using a cell culture approach in the laboratory, they have stimulated various immune cells in the blood with stable dust.
Study shows: Stable dust influences the immune system of children already suffering from asthma
"We were able to show that in children with manifest asthma, certain cells of the innate immune system are reduced after stimulation with farm dust," says Claudia Beerweiler, first author of the study, "whereas subgroups of cells of the acquired immune system are increased, including B cells and certain T helper cell populations. In addition, certain molecules associated with inflammation, cell toxicity, antigen presentation and specific T helper cells are reduced. Cell toxicity is the ability of certain substances or microorganisms to damage or destroy cells. Antigen presentation is a central process in an immune response in which the structures of microorganisms are made recognizable to certain immune cells.
Anti-inflammatory effect already proven in earlier studies
"We now know that the innate immune system is much more central to allergy development and prevention than we thought for decades," says Bianca Schaub, LMU Professor at the Children's Clinic and Pediatric Polyclinic at the Dr. von Hauner Children's Hospital, with a focus on pediatric pneumology and allergology at the LMU Clinic. Earlier studies have already shown that the protection provided by farmyard dust is mediated via an anti-inflammatory effect.
In a recently published study involving LMU researcher Prof. Dr. Erika von Mutius, it was found that dusts from cowsheds contain transport proteins known as lipokalins. They modulate the function of the human immune system. Two of these substances are found at significantly higher levels in barn dust.
Findings open up new avenues for treating sick children
One building block follows another to unravel the mystery of stable dust. The aim of the researchers is clear: to identify the beneficial substances and make them available to all children who do not live on the farm - the form in which this is done is currently being investigated. The target group of children that could be treated in this way also still needs to be investigated in detail. "The fact that stimulation with stable dust can modulate immune responses in the laboratory, even in asthmatics with the disease," says Bianca Schaub, "may also open up new avenues for treating children who are already symptomatic."
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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