Consumer Safety Considerations of Skin and Oral Microbiome Perturbation

Abstract

SUMMARY Microbiomes associated with human skin and the oral cavity are uniquely exposed to personal care regimes. Changes in the composition and activities of the microbial communities in these environments can be utilized to promote consumer health benefits, for example, by reducing the numbers, composition, or activities of microbes implicated in conditions such as acne, axillary odor, dandruff, and oral diseases. It is, however, important to ensure that innovative approaches for microbiome manipulation do not unsafely disrupt the microbiome or compromise health, and where major changes in the composition or activities of the microbiome may occur, these require evaluation to ensure that critical biological functions are unaffected. This article is based on a 2-day workshop held at SEAC Unilever, Sharnbrook, United Kingdom, involving 31 specialists in microbial risk assessment, skin and oral microbiome research, microbial ecology, bioinformatics, mathematical modeling, and immunology. The first day focused on understanding the potential implications of skin and oral microbiome perturbation, while approaches to characterize those perturbations were discussed during the second day. This article discusses the factors that the panel recommends be considered for personal care products that target the microbiomes of the skin and the oral cavity.

Simultaneous profiling and cultivation of the skin microbiome of healthy young adult skin for the development of therapeutic agents

“…Diseased skin in particular, e.g atopic dermatitis (AD), leprosy, and hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) conditions are characterized by apparent changes in skin microbiota composition, such as underrepresentation of Firmicutes and increase in Proteobacteria for leprosy patients and appearance of genus Porphyromonas and Peptoniphilus in HS patients [39,41,42]. Unique microbial activities and communities on different populations may serve valuable information to target diseases based on predictive models, or utilized beneficial health purposes [43,44]. Of the most abundant species from the top 10 genera, five bacterial strains that are prospective candidates for probiotics/postbiotics for use as skin microbiome therapeutics were Micrococcus sp., Propionibacterium acidipropionici, Propionibacterium granulosum, Propionibacterium avidum and Paracoccus sp, while others are considered as opportunistic pathogens.…”

Skin and Gut Microbiome in Psoriasis: Gaining Insight Into the Pathophysiology of It and Finding Novel Therapeutic Strategies

“…The reports mentioned above are qualitative in nature, and the loss of quantitative definition directly limits insights into what features are reproducible across studies. What makes the results so different is that skin microbes are affected by a variety of host and environmental factors, such as daily hygiene regimens, use of cosmetic products, exposure to antimicrobials, friction, climate, and UV irradiation ( Babeluk et al, 2014 ; Lee H. J. et al, 2018 ; Burns et al, 2019 ; McBain et al, 2019 ). Therefore, these confounders must be strictly controlled during study so that the results across samples and studies can be comparable.…”

A New Approach to Harness Probiotics Against Common Bacterial Skin Pathogens: Towards Living Antimicrobials

“…However, also unfavorable effects on the skin microbiome may be possible: inhibiting beneficial strains of C. acnes or of S. epidermidis may lead to perturbation of the skin microbiome and to an exacerbation of the disease intended to treat [35,[73][74][75].…”