Inverse Association Between the Skin and Oral Microbiota in Atopic Dermatitis

Abstract

Previous studies have shown independently that the skin and gut microbiota are closely associated with atopic dermatitis (AD); however, the microbiota across different habitats of AD patients as an integrated community has not been characterized. In the present study, we comparatively analyzed the structure and function of the microbial communities in the skin, oral cavity, and gut of 172 AD patients and 120 healthy controls through 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicon sequencing. The skin and oral cavity, but not the gut, of AD patients demonstrated differential reduction in the microbial diversity, and these were distinctly correlated with disease severity. Different degrees of shifts in the community structure were found among different habitats, and the lineage distance between the skin and oral microbiota of AD patients was closer than that observed in the controls. The different habitats of AD patients exhibited site-specific alterations at the genus level, and many oral-specific microbes of AD showed opposing directions of enrichment in the skin and oral cavity. Most interestingly, an inverse association in the functional pathways was found between the skin and oral microbiota of AD patients. Additionally, the alterations of the microbiota in different body sites of AD patients were differentially affected by age.

The role of bacterial skin infections in atopic dermatitis: expert statement and review from the International Eczema Council Skin Infection Group

“…They found that appreciable clinical improvement with antibiotic therapy occurred only in patients whose AD lesions were infected by S. aureus at a density of greater than 10 6 colony‐forming units per cm 2 . Similarly, microbiome studies of paediatric patients with AD show that the relative abundance of S. aureus is associated with disease flares and correlates with severity …”

The Role of the Microbiome and Microbiome-Derived Metabolites in Atopic Dermatitis and Non-Histaminergic Itch

“…The relationship between microbiomes across different body sites has recently been investigated in patients with AD. Li et al [17] revealed differential alterations in community-level diversity between microbiomes from the same body habitats (alpha diversity) of patients with AD and healthy controls in a study comparing the structure and predicted functions of microbial communities from the skin, oral cavity, and gut. In patients with AD, the skin showed the most significant decrease in alpha diversity, followed by the oral cavity, whereas no differences in community structure were detected for the gut microbiome [17].…”

“…Li et al [17] revealed differential alterations in community-level diversity between microbiomes from the same body habitats (alpha diversity) of patients with AD and healthy controls in a study comparing the structure and predicted functions of microbial communities from the skin, oral cavity, and gut. In patients with AD, the skin showed the most significant decrease in alpha diversity, followed by the oral cavity, whereas no differences in community structure were detected for the gut microbiome [17]. Differences in the extent of diversity between different habitats (beta diversity) were observed, with the microbial lineage between the skin and oral cavity being closer in patients with AD than in healthy controls.…”

Meeting Report of the 4th Annual Meeting of the Chinese Society for Investigative Dermatology: Reflections on the Rise of Cutaneous Biology Research in China

“…TSLP-induced allergic Th2/Th17 polarization likely depends on dectin-2emediated allergen sensitization and upregulation of Th2/Th17-related cytokines. Han et al, 2017;Li et al, 2019Liang et al, 2019;Sun et al, 2011;Yu et al, 2019;Leprosy Variants of genes in the NOD2-mediated signaling pathway are associated with susceptibility to infection with M. leprae. HLA-B*13:01 was associated with the development of the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome.…”