The microbiome as a target for endocrine disruptors: Novel chemicals may disrupt androgen and microbiome-mediated autoimmunity
In non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice, there is a sex-biased increase in female incidence of type 1 diabetes. Recently, the microbiome was found to protect male mice from type 1 diabetes. Transfer of microbiota from adult NOD male mice to pre-pubertal female mice protects against later incidence of sex-biased type 1 diabetes. This protection involves, in part, microbiome-mediated increased tes- tosterone synthesis, which up-regulates the interleukin and interferon pathways. The microbiome-derived signals that mediate this response are unknown, although due to the diversity of chemicals synthesized in the microbiome some are likely to have structures unlike andro- gens. This suggests that novel synthetic and/or plant-derived chemicals may affect sex-biased autoimmune diseases through disruption of protective signal- ing networks between the microbiome and its host.
