Archive Meta Data

Author(s)

Christopher J Barnes, Maria Asplund, Maja-Lisa Clausen, Linett Rasmussen, Caroline Meyer Olesen, Yasemin Topal Yüksel, Paal Skytt Andersen, Thomas Litman, Kim Holmstrøm,  Lene Bay, Blaine Gabriel Fritz, Thomas Bjarnsholt, Tove Agner and Anders Johannes Hansen

Title

DISTRIBUTION_OF_BACTERIA_STRATUM_CORNEUM

Description

•	There has been considerable research into the understanding of the healthy skin microbiome. Similarly, there is also a considerable body of research into whether specific microbes contribute to skin disorders, with atopic dermatitis (AD) routinely linked to increased Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) colonisation. 
•	In this study, the epidermal surface of participants was sampled using swabs, while serial tape-stripping (35 tapes) was performed to sample through the stratum corneum. Samples were taken from AD patients and healthy controls, and the bacterial communities were profiled by metabarcoding the universal V3-V4 16S rRNA region. The distribution of bacteria was also localised from biopsies from AD patients using fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH). 
•	Results show that the majority of bacteria are located within the outermost layers of the stratum corneum, with the highest richness at the surface. The inner epidermal communities were a predictable subset of the outer communities within patients. We therefore hypothesise that tape-stripping can be performed to investigate the ‘core microbiome’ of participants while removing environmental contaminants, avoiding the invasiveness of biopsies.
•	Meanwhile, significant community variation between AD patients and healthy controls was only observable at the epidermal surface, and FISH microscopy localised the majority of S. aureus cells to the surface of lesions. This suggests that S. aureus can only promote AD pathogenesis through the movement of a small percentage of S. aureus into deeper tissue that have been previously observed, or the secretion of inflammatory molecules from the epidermal surface.