The role of the microbiome in childhood disease

从这些观察性研究中，我们取得了几项与儿童微生物群参与不同疾病状态有关的科学进展： 1)我们发现，出生第一周的皮肤微生物群的某些特征可以预测哪些儿童会在儿童早期发展为湿疹。 2)我们首次发现，在携带SARS-CoV-2病毒的幼儿中，抗炎细菌类群枯竭；我们现在正在研究这一发现对健康的长期影响。此外，我们正在研究SARS-CoV-2感染后微生物组的持续变化如何导致年龄较大的儿童出现持续症状。 3)我们发现，与阴道分娩相比，剖腹产婴儿出生后头两年的肠道噬菌体数量有所不同。我们现在正在调查这一现象的潜在生理影响。 4)我们发现，与阴道分娩的孩子相比，剖腹产的孩子在出生后第一周更容易被环境细菌定植，这可能是由于抵抗力减弱所致。 5)我们发现肥胖儿童在儿童减肥手术后微生物组发生了深刻的变化。我们现在正在动物模型中研究这些微生物组的变化是否与减肥手术后出现的任何有益的表型结果有关。

From these observational studies we have made several scientific advances related to the involvement of the childhood microbiome over different disease states: 1) We identified that certain features of the skin microbiome in the first week of life can predict which children will go on to develop eczema in early childhood. 2) We identified for the first time that in very young children who carry SARS-CoV-2 that there is a depletion of anti-inflammatory bacterial taxa; we are now examining the long-term impacts on health of this finding. In addition we are examining how persistent changes in the microbiome after a SARS-CoV-2 infection can lead to persistent symptoms in older children. 3) We showed that in children delivered by caesarean section, compared to vaginal delivery, there were differences in gut bacteriophages over the first two years of life. We are now investigating the potential physiological impacts of this. 4) We showed that children delivered by caesarean section were more likely to be colonized by environmental bacteria compared to children delivered by vaginal delivery in the first week of like, likely due to impaired colonization resistance. 5) We identified profound microbiome changes after pediatric bariatric surgery in children with obesity. We are now investigating in animal models whether these microbiome changes are causal to any of the beneficial phenotypic outcomes seen after bariatric surgery.