Skin Microbiota is Altered in Preclinical Hidradenitis Suppurativa
Cutaneous microbiota, even in clinically non-affected axillary skin of patients with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), is significantly different compared with the cutaneous microbiota of healthy controls, according to the results of a recent study.
In order to test the hypothesis that unaffected HS skin would also display an increased presence of bacteria and biofilm compared with that of healthy individuals, researchers conducted an exploratory case-control study comparing 24 HS cases and 24 healthy controls. The researchers used peptide nucleic acid-fluorescence in situ hybridization probes in combination with confocal laser scanning microscopy to investigate the morphology of the axillary skin microbiota.
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Overall, they found significant differences in the distribution and quantity of the cutaneous microbiota in clinically non-affected axillary skin of patients with HS compared with that of healthy controls. Although all samples were taken from unaffected skin, 50% of the samples from HS participants showed signs of low-grade inflammation compared with only 16% of controls. Unexpectedly, less bacteria and biofilm was detected in HS patients than in controls.
“Our study demonstrated significant differences in the distribution and quantity of the cutaneous microbiota as well as biofilm formations in clinically non-affected axillary skin of patients with HS compared with healthy controls, with fewer bacteria and less biofilm found in HS,” the researchers concluded.
“The observations are in sharp contrast with our initial hypothesis of an increased presence of biofilm in clinically unaffected HS skin. Nevertheless, these results may give rise to new pathogenic concepts for HS.”
—Michael Potts
Reference:
Ring HC, Bay L, Kallenbach K, et al. Normal skin microbiota is altered in pre-clinical hidradenitis suppurativa. Acta Derm Venereol. 2017;97(2):208-213.