2019 research update
Drs. Linda Mansfield and Sue Ewart are working toward a new stage of their allergy and asthma project. They’re planning to test dietary interventions in mothers and children based on microbiome work they completed previously in mice.
“The mouse models we developed by transplanting germ-free animals with bacteria from allergic infants have enabled better understanding of the basis of allergy. We’re hoping these findings allow us to lower the rates of allergies and asthma in children on the Isle of Wight,” says Mansfield. “And then maybe beyond.”
The Isle of Wight is an island off the southern coast of England. Wight is mixed use; there are city and suburban areas, along with farming. Osbourne House, which sits in the northern part of the island almost equidistant from the River Medina and Osbourne Bay, is the summer-home-turned-final residence of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
The people who grow up and live here are attached to the island. Many do not want to leave, and some never do. Young adults who go off the island to attend university often return and settle back in their homeland.
Residents of the Isle of Wight share another quality: high rates of asthma and allergies—as much as 40 percent, much of which is multigenerational. In 1990, the David Hide Asthma and Allergy Research Centre on Isle of Wight worked with 120 pregnant women who, due to their family histories, carried babies with a high risk of developing allergies. The women were recruited into an interventional allergy prevention study; the test group’s babies, who made use of dietary changes and pesticide treatments for dust mite allergens, demonstrated lower rates of allergies and sensitivities.
While residents of the Isle experience high rates of asthma and allergies, they also demonstrate high rates of compliance with researchers. The populace is proud of the three-generation study in which they participate.
Since 2017, Drs. Linda Mansfield and Sue Ewart from the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences in the MSU College of Veterinary Medicine have worked with the Isle of Wight study participants to investigate the link between the human microbiome and allergic response. Mansfield, university distinguished professor and Albert C. and Lois E. Dehn Endowed Chair in Veterinary Medicine, and Ewart, special assistant to the dean and professor, and their colleagues from the University of Memphis and the University of Southampton UK were awarded $275,000 by the National Institutes of Health to investigate whether particular compositions of the gut, nasal, or skin microbiomes may increase or decrease risk of eczema and asthma.
Currently, Mansfield and Ewart are collecting fecal samples from the offspring of the David Hide Centre’s third generation for further studies on the microbiome.
Impact
Students and learning: The Mansfield and Ewart labs have hosted a wide variety of students including graduate, undergraduate, and summer research students. Of the lab’s four graduate students, three are DVMs working toward their PhDs.
“All our students have been great, no matter which stage they are in their educations,” says Mansfield. “We have an undergraduate student in particular, Joe Faryean, from the Neuroscience program. He’s a college senior at the age of 19. He’s presented his research at quite a few events on campus and out-of-state, and he spent his summer participating in the Summer Research Training Program at the University of California at San Francisco. Now, he’s back working with us and preparing to submit a paper for submission. Joe is a great example of the quality of students our lab gets to work with each year.”
Community and outreach: The rate of asthma and allergy on the Isle of Wight is as high as 40 percent. Mansfield and Ewart hope to identify best practices for lowering the rates of these dangerous conditions.
Faculty interaction: Mansfield and Ewart are working with faculty from the University of Memphis, the University of Southampton UK, and the University of Colorado School of Medicine.