In-Depth Review of the Relationship Between Dermatitis and Food Allergy in Pediatric Patients

The researchers found that food allergies were badociated with distinct abnormalities on apparently healthy skin in pediatric patients with atopic dermatitis (AD), a common skin condition. The surprising results represent one of the most comprehensive badessments of patients with Alzheimer's disease on the skin and suggest that treatments for Alzheimer's disease and food allergy should be focused on improving the function of the skin barrier. Atopic dermatitis is an inflammatory skin disease that affects nearly 20% of children worldwide. A third of patients with AD also suffer from food and respiratory allergies. Scientists have sought to better understand the relationship between AD and food allergy, but progress is limited because skin sampling methods, such as biopsies, are too invasive. Here, Donald Leung and his colleagues used a non-invasive sampling approach called skin stripping to study the skin of 21 patients with AD and food allergy (FA +), from 19 patients with MA with no food allergy (FA-) and 22 healthy controls. Their badysis revealed that the non-lesional skin of AF + AD patients had unique properties not seen in AFD patients. Specifically, AD FA + skin samples exhibited reduced amounts of a skin-badociated protein called filaggrin, high type 2 immune responses (a form of immune activity induced by T helper cells) and increased expression of skin-badociated protein keratin – abnormalities correlated with structural changes in the skin barrier architecture. The non-lesional AD-FA + skin also harbored a greater amount of the bacterial Staphylococcus aureus species compared to patients with AF AD and controls. The authors argue that future studies should examine in more detail the complex relationships between S. aureus proliferation, filaggrin reduction and food allergy sensitization in patients.

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