Array fluorescence signals from atopics was carried out. PCA was performed by considering the types of allergic response as dummy environmental variables. No separation of the atopic children according to the specific diagnosis of rhinitis, asthma, grass pollen sensitization, allergic atopic dermatitis, oral allergy syndrome and cow’s

milk allergy was obtained, proving that the atopy-related dysbioses of the faecal microbiota are independent of the specific atopic outcome (data not shown). In a subset of 10 atopy cases with clinical this website relevance the total serum IgE levels were determined. Total IgE ranged from 138 to 855 ku/L (geometric mean: 326 ku/L), a value above the normal for age [27]. In order to investigate whether in this subset of 10 atopics IgE correlated with the relative abundance of a specific microbial group in the faeces, Spearman rank correlation coefficients between the probe relative fluorescence signals and the IgE levels were calculated.

According to our data no significant correlation was determined. However, a tendency towards an inverse correlation with IgE was obtained for L. casei et rel. (ρ = 0.52; Birinapant supplier P = 0.100), while Clostridium cluster IX abundance tended to be positively correlated with total IgE (ρ = 0.60; P = 0.073) (Figure 3). Figure 3 Spearman rank correlation between total IgE level and the abundance of L. casei et rel. and Clostridium cluster IX in the stools from a subset of 10 atopic children. Discussion In the present paper we combined two culture-independent molecular approaches, HTF-Microbi.Array and qPCR, for a pilot characterization of the atopy-associated dysbiosis of the intestinal microbiota nearly in 19 atopic children living in Italy. At high phylogenetic level both atopics and controls showed a comparable overall microbiota profile where Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes constituted the two dominant divisions.

However, focusing at lower taxonomic level, the intestinal microbiota of atopic children was characterized by a significant depletion in members of the Clostridium cluster IV, F. prausnitzii, A. muciniphila and a corresponding increase of the relative abundance of Enterobacteriaceae. In a case–control DGGE-based study of the faecal microbiota from 20 allergic and 20 non-allergic 5-year-old Estonian children, Stsepetova et al.[36] reported a less diverse composition in the faecal microbiota from atopic children but, according to the Authors, no bacterial targets could distinguish infants with or without atopy. However, the DGGE-based approach allowed to consider only the dominant fraction of the intestinal microbiota, remaining blind with respect to the whole phylogenetic complexity of the ecosystem. In an elegant 16 S rDNA pyrosequencing-based dynamic study, Hong et al.