The Skin Microbiome: A Focus on Pathogens and Their Association with Skin Disease
Open accessAbstract
What Is the Human Microbiome and Why Is It Important?Microbes are present in every environmental niche and live in close association with humans and each other.Members of these communities include bacteria, archaea, viruses, fungi, and protists.In the environment, microbes perform various roles and are essential in agriculture and food production.In humans and animals, microbes provide protection against foreign invaders, educate and stimulate the immune response, produce antimicrobials, aid in digestion, and produce vitamins, among a host of other functions.In the last decade, researchers have actively investigated the impact of microbes and their gene products in human health and disease.This field of research is defined as the human microbiome, which is the totality of the microbes and their genes in and on the human body.To better understand the impact of microbes on health and disease, multiple body sites have been investigated, including skin, lungs, the nasal passage, the oral cavity, and the gastrointestinal and urogenital tracts.The results of these studies have revealed that each body site is home to a unique microbial community.Shifts in microbial communities can result from multiple factors, including environment, genetic variation, lifestyle and hygienic factors, and the immune system, and have been associated with many diseases.
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AD is associated with increased abundance of S. aureus in lesions, which interferes with host immunity and damages the skin barrier; psoriasis is associated with abnormal colonization of S. aureus and decreased S. epidermidis abundance in psoriatic lesions; seborrheic dermatitis involves Malassezia in its pathogenesis.
“Further examples of disease-microbiota association in human skin are AD (where the increased abundance of S. aureus in the lesions interferes with the host immunity, directly damaging the skin barrier), psoriasis (with abnormal colonization of S. aureus and decrease of S. epidermidis abundance in psoriatic lesions), and seborrheic dermatitis (where the most abundant fungal skin commensal, Malassez”
From Recreating Human Skin In Vitro: Should the Microbiota Be Taken into Account? (2024) · cites this paper as [128]
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Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredAlteration of the microbial communities, due to environmental, genetic, lifestyle-associated, hygienic, and immune system-related factors, can lead to a pathological skin condition by making ordinarily beneficial bacteria disease-causing under certain conditions.
“Indeed, as a result of environmental, genetic, lifestyle-associated, hygienic, and immune system-related factors, the alteration of the microbial communities can lead to a pathological skin condition; it means that these factors can have an impact on ordinarily beneficial bacteria, making them disease-causing under certain conditions [5,128].”
From Recreating Human Skin In Vitro: Should the Microbiota Be Taken into Account? (2024) · cites this paper as [128]
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Cites
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Distinct Microbial Signatures Associated With Different Breast Cancer Types
Banerjee, S., Tian, T., Wei, Z., Shih, N., Feldman, M. D., Peck, K. N., DeMichele, A. M., Alwine, J. C., & Robertson, E. S. (2018) · Frontiers in Microbiology · doi:10.3389/fmicb.2018.00951 · Cited by 281 · see citing works
Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer: news from microbiota research
Squarzanti, D. F., Zavattaro, E., Pizzimenti, S., Amoruso, A., Savoia, P., & Azzimonti, B. (2020) · Critical Reviews in Microbiology · doi:10.1080/1040841x.2020.1794792 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Recreating Human Skin In Vitro: Should the Microbiota Be Taken into Account?
Galvan, A., Pellicciari, C., & Calderan, L. (2024) · International Journal of Molecular Sciences · doi:10.3390/ijms25021165 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
- Authors
- Findley, K., & Grice, E. A.
- Affiliations
- National Human Genome Research Institute (US)
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Corresponding author
- Grice, Elizabeth A.
- ORCID
- Grice, Elizabeth A.
- Venue
- PLoS Pathogens
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2014-11-13
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- e1004436
- ISSN
- 1553-7366 (ISSN-L)
- 1553-7374
- PMC
- PMC4231143
- OpenAlex
- W2077881600
- Cited by
- 185
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 11.70
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS Pathogens (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (R00AR060873)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Dermatology › Dermatology and Skin Diseases
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Nail Diseases and Treatments
- Keywords
- skin microbiome, skin pathogens, skin diseases, human microbiome, microbial communities, host-microbe interactions, immune response, microbial diversity, dysbiosis
- MeSH terms
- Dermatomycoses, Humans, Malassezia, Propionibacterium acnes, Skin, Skin Diseases, Infectious, Staphylococcal Infections, Staphylococcus aureus, Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections, Microbiota
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