Composition of cutaneous bacterial microbiome in seborrheic dermatitis patients: A cross-sectional study

PLoS One. 2021 May 24;16(5):e0251136. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251136. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Background: Seborrheic dermatitis (SD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease with a multifactorial aetiology. Malassezia yeasts have been associated with the disease but the role of bacterial composition in SD has not been thoroughly investigated.

Objectives: To profile the bacterial microbiome of SD patients and compare this with the microbiome of individuals with no inflammatory skin disease (controls).

Methods: This was a cross sectional study embedded in a population-based study. Skin swabs were taken from naso-labial fold from patients with seborrheic dermatitis (lesional skin: n = 22; non-lesional skin SD: n = 75) and controls (n = 465). Sample collection began in 2016 at the research facility and is still ongoing. Shannon and Chao1 α- diversity metrics were calculated per group. Associations between the microbiome composition of cases and controls was calculated using multivariate statistics (permANOVA) and univariate statistics.

Results: We found an increased α-diversity between SD lesional cases versus controls (Shannon diversity: Kruskal-Wallis rank sum: Chi-squared: 19.06; global p-value = 7.7x10-5). Multivariate statistical analysis showed significant associations in microbiome composition when comparing lesional SD skin to controls (p-value = 0.03;R2 = 0.1%). Seven out of 13 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) that were significantly different between controls and lesional cases were members of the genus Staphylococcus, most of which showed increased composition in lesional cases, and were closely related to S. capitis S. caprae and S. epidermidis.

Conclusion: Microbiome composition differs in patients with seborrheic dermatitis and individuals without diseases. Differences were mainly found in the genus Staphylococcus.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Administration, Cutaneous
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Dermatitis, Atopic / microbiology
  • Dermatitis, Seborrheic / microbiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Inflammation / microbiology
  • Malassezia / isolation & purification
  • Male
  • Microbiota / physiology*
  • Middle Aged
  • Skin / microbiology*
  • Staphylococcus epidermidis / isolation & purification

Grants and funding

The Rotterdam Study is funded by Erasmus Medical Center and Erasmus University Rotterdam; Netherlands Organization for the Health Research and Development (ZonMw); the Research Institute for Diseases in the Elderly (RIDE); the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Sports, the European Commission (DG XII), and the Municipality of Rotterdam. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.