Hailun Wang, Mandy W.M. Chan, Henry H. Chan, Herbert Pang
DOI: 10.2340/00015555-3638

The aim of this study was to identify key microbes associated with change in skin status (lesional vs normal). Longitudinal changes in the skin microbiome between patients with psoriasis and healthy family controls living in the same household were studied using whole genome metagenomic shotgun sequencing at 4 time-points. There were significant changes in abundance of the pathogen Campylobacter jejuni and its higher taxonomic levels when the skin status of patients with psoriasis changed. There were significant longitudinal variations in alpha diveristy (p < 0.001) and beta diversity (p < 0.05) of the skin microbiome in patients with psoriasis, but not in the healthy control group, which indicated composition of skin microbiome in patients with psoriasis was different from healthy control and was dynamically less stable. This study will serve as the basis for future temporal studies of the skin microbiome and probiotic therapeutics.

Psoriasis is a multifaceted chronic skin disease that causes pain and discomfort. Skin microbiome is the community of microorganisms that reside on the skin. Understanding the involvement of the microbiome in the health of human skin will help enable the development of novel therapies. The association between the skin microbiome and the pathogenesis of psoriasis over time is not well understood. This study identified key microbes associated with the change in skin microbiome in patients with psoriasis over time, with healthy family controls as comparison. Significant change of relative abundance in Campylobacter jejuni was observed when the skin status of patients with psoriasis changed from lesional to normal (adjusted p < 0.05).

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