Come spring, many of us will be smelling seasonal allergies. Scientists have recently identified a potentially fundamental difference between people with and without nasal allergies—and it has to do with nasal fungus.
An international research team says people with sniffles caused by allergies and asthma have different communities of fungi in their noses than people without symptoms. Their findings, described in a December 17 study published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiologymay have important applications for the future treatment of allergies and asthma.
“We showed that allergic rhinitis samples show a much higher fungal diversity and a different fungal community structure compared to those of healthy controls,” said Luís Delgado from the University of Porto, who participated in the study, Frontiers in Microbiology statement. Allergic rhinitis is the medical term for allergy symptoms such as stuffy or runny nose, sneezing, itching, and swollen nasal membranes.
“This may suggest that allergic rhinitis increases the diversity and alters the composition of the upper airway microbiome,” said Delgado. Allergic rhinitis is often associated with asthma, which involves inflammation and obstruction of the airways. Researchers suggest that allergic rhinitis and asthma may be two aspects of the same underlying condition.
The team, including researchers from George Washington University, took noses from 215 patients at the immunology and asthma clinic in Porto, Portugal, in addition to 125 healthy people. Of the clinical patients, 155 had allergic rhinitis and asthma, 47 had rhinitis only, and 12 had asthma only.
They then sequenced the DNA of the fungi from the nasal swabs and “found common fungi that have been recognized in humans as allergenic or susceptible fungi,” Delgado said.
“This confirms at the fungal level what is already known about bacteria, that the nasal cavity is a large reservoir of opportunistic bacteria that can cause allergen rhinitis and asthma,” the researchers wrote in the study. While these pathogenic fungi were found in all samples, Delgado and his colleagues found that clinical patients had richer and more diverse fungal communities in their noses than healthy people. Additionally, the team noted evidence suggesting that the fungus in patients with both respiratory infections affects the immune system of the nose.
Perhaps most importantly, however, they also found a surplus of 5-aminoimidazole ribonucleotide—a chemical associated with energy metabolism and DNA synthesis—in the noses of patients with both respiratory diseases. The scientists suggest that, with further research, this potential association could guide future therapies to target AIR to treat or diagnose allergies and asthma.
The team plans to conduct follow-up studies, giving hope to the hundreds of millions of people who tell their friends that this is indeed the case. it’s just allergies every time they reach the tissue.
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