Association of breast milk miRNA with the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K16138
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 54020:Connective tissue disease and allergy-related
• Research Institution: Chiba University
• Principal Investigator: Nakano Taiji 千葉大学, 医学部附属病院, 助教 (90708306)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 母乳 / microRNA / アトピー性皮膚炎 / 食物アレルギー

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In a high-risk birth cohort study, breastfeeding (OR: 2.64, 95% CI: 1.45-4.81) was found to be a risk factor for egg white sensitization at one year of age. These results suggest that immune substances and microRNAs in breast milk may be involved in egg white sensitization.
Therefore, we analyzed miRNA expression in breast milk samples from five atopic dermatitis (AD) subjects and five non-AD subjects, and found that hsa-miR-342-5p was significantly lower in the AD group than in the non-AD group. In silico analysis showed that hsa-miR-342-5p was involved in VEGF, TGFb signaling and may be involved in the development of allergic diseases.

Free Research Field

小児免疫アレルギー

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

アトピー性皮膚炎含むアレルギー疾患は有病率も高く、QOLを著しく低下させるためその予防や病態解明は社会的意義が高い。また、離乳食が始まる前の新生児期から乳児期は母乳もしくは人工乳が唯一の栄養であり児に与える影響は大きい。母乳栄養が卵白感作のリスク因子となることが我々の独立した２つの出生コホート研究から分かっており、アレルギー疾患発症にも母乳成分が関与している可能性が示唆された。今回は母乳中のmiRNAに着目して研究を行い、母乳中のある特定のmiRNAがアトピー性皮膚炎発症した児において低値であることが判明したことで今後さらに母乳中成分の関わりが着目される。