Environmental biodiversity, human microbiota, and allergy are interrelated
Open accessAbstract
Rapidly declining biodiversity may be a contributing factor to another global megatrend—the rapidly increasing prevalence of allergies and other chronic inflammatory diseases among urban populations worldwide. According to the “biodiversity hypothesis,” reduced contact of people with natural environmental features and biodiversity may adversely affect the human commensal microbiota and its immunomodulatory capacity. Analyzing atopic sensitization (i.e., allergic disposition) in a random sample of adolescents living in a heterogeneous region of 100 × 150 km, we show that environmental biodiversity in the surroundings of the study subjects’ homes influenced the composition of the bacterial classes on their skin. Compared with healthy individuals, atopic individuals had lower environmental biodiversity in the surroundings of their homes and significantly lower generic diversity of gammaproteobacteria on their skin. The functional role of the Gram-negative gammaproteobacteria is supported by in vitro measurements of expression of IL-10, a key anti-inflammatory cytokine in immunologic tolerance, in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. In healthy, but not in atopic, individuals, IL-10 expression was positively correlated with the abundance of the gammaproteobacterial genus Acinetobacter on the skin. These results raise fundamental questions about the consequences of biodiversity loss for both allergic conditions and public health in general.
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The biodiversity hypothesis highlights the role of natural environments in shaping the human microbiome, enhancing immune balance, and reducing inflammation-related diseases.
“Similarly, the biodiversity hypothesis highlights the role of natural environments in shaping the human microbiome [38], enhancing immune balance, and reducing inflammation-related diseases [38,39,40].”
On the Finnish side, the greenness/biodiversity of the adolescent home environment was associated with skin microbiota composition, immune regulation, and allergy risk.
“On the Finnish side, the greenness/biodiversity of the adolescent home environment was associated with skin microbiota composition, immune regulation, and allergy risk [33].”
From <scp>EAACI</scp> Guidelines on the Importance of Green Space in Urban Environments for Allergy and Asthma Prevention (2026) · cites this paper as [33]
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- Authors
- Hanski, I., von Hertzen, L., Fyhrquist, N., Koskinen, K., Torppa, K., Laatikainen, T., Karisola, P., Auvinen, P., Paulin, L., Mäkelä, M. J., Vartiainen, E., Kosunen, T. U., Alenius, H., & Haahtela, T.
- Affiliations
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- Skin and Allergy Hospital, Helsinki University Central Hospital, FI-00029 Helsinki, Finland;
- Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FI)
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (FI)
- Helsinki University Hospital (FI)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2012-05-07
- Volume
- 109
- Issue
- 21
- Pages
- 8334-8339
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC3361383
- OpenAlex
- W2057821639
- Cited by
- 1,063
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 53 · 2025: 64 · 2024: 87 · 2023: 71 · 2022: 86 · 2021: 101 · 2020: 89 · 2019: 97 · 2018: 76 · 2017: 86 · 2016: 68 · 2015: 64 · 2014: 55 · 2013: 46 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 72.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- STM:n Hallinnonalan avoin julkaisuarkisto (Julkari) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Dermatology › Dermatology and Skin Diseases
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Asthma and respiratory diseases
- Keywords
- allergy, atopic sensitization, skin microbiome, human microbiota, Gammaproteobacteria, Acinetobacter, IL-10, immunomodulation, biodiversity loss, adolescents, urban population, chronic inflammatory diseases
- MeSH terms
- Acinetobacter, Adolescent, Bacillus, Civilization, Clostridium, Environmental Exposure, Finland, Humans, Hypersensitivity, Random Allocation, Skin, Prevalence, Logistic Models, Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Biodiversity, Metagenome, Hygiene Hypothesis
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