Depletion of beneficial microbes by modern lifestyle factors correlates with the rising prevalence of food allergies. Re-introduction of allergy-protective bacteria may be an effective treatment strategy. We characterized the fecal microbiota of healthy and food-allergic infants and found that the anaerobe Anaerostipes caccae (A. caccae) was representative of the protective capacity of the healthy microbiota. We isolated a strain of A. caccae from the feces of a healthy infant and identified lactulose as a prebiotic to optimize butyrate production by A. caccae in vitro. Administration of a synbiotic composed of our isolated A. caccae strain and lactulose increased luminal butyrate in gnotobiotic mice colonized with feces from an allergic infant and in antibiotic-treated specific pathogen-free (SPF) mice, and prevented or treated an anaphylactic response to allergen challenge. The synbiotic’s efficacy in two models and microbial contexts suggests that it may be a promising approach for the treatment of food allergy.

现代生活方式因素对有益微生物的消耗与食物过敏患病率的上升有关。重新引入过敏保护细菌可能是一种有效的治疗策略。我们对健康和食物过敏婴儿的粪便微生物群进行了表征，发现厌氧菌Anaerostipes caccae ( A. caccae ) 代表了健康微生物群的保护能力。我们从健康婴儿的粪便中分离出一株A. caccae ，并鉴定出乳果糖作为益生元，以优化A. caccae 体外丁酸盐的产生。给予由我们分离的A. caccae菌株和乳果糖组成的合生元，可以增加被过敏婴儿粪便定植的无菌小鼠和经过抗生素治疗的无特定病原体 (SPF) 小鼠的管腔丁酸盐，并预防或治疗对过敏原的过敏反应挑战。该合生元在两种模型和微生物环境中的功效表明，它可能是治疗食物过敏的一种有前途的方法。