Abstract
Although skin is the primary affected organ in Leprosy, the role of the skin microbiome in its pathogenesis is not well understood. Recent reports have shown that skin of leprosy patients (LP) harbours perturbed microbiota which grants inflammation and disease progression. Herein, we present the results of nested Polymerase Chain Reaction-Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) which was initially performed for investigating the diversity of bacterial communities from lesional skin (LS) and non-lesional skin (NLS) sites of LP (n = 11). Further, we performed comprehensive analysis of 16S rRNA profiles corresponding to skin samples from participants (n = 90) located in two geographical locations i.e. Hyderabad and Miraj in India. The genus Staphylococcus was observed to be one of the representative bacteria characterizing healthy controls (HC; n = 30), which in contrast was underrepresented in skin microbiota of LP. Taxa affiliated to phyla Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were found to be signatures of HC and LS, respectively. Observed diversity level changes, shifts in core microbiota, and community network structure support the evident dysbiosis in normal skin microbiota due to leprosy. Insights obtained indicate the need for exploring skin microbiota modulation as a potential therapeutic option for leprosy.
Highlights
Skin is the largest organ of human body and serves mainly as a physical barrier to protect the host from invading microorganisms and other environmental stresses[1,2]
A comprehensive analysis was carried out on the available 16S rRNA gene sequencing datasets corresponding to 88 skin swab samples, comprising of 30 samples taken from healthy controls (HC) (15 each from Hyderabad and Miraj) and a total of 58 samples from leprosy patients (LP) from both sampling locations
Normal skin microbiota and its dysbiosis is known to play an important role in different cutaneous inflammatory and infectious diseases[4,5]
Summary
Skin is the largest organ of human body and serves mainly as a physical barrier to protect the host from invading microorganisms and other environmental stresses[1,2]. The reduced microbial diversity observed in both treated and untreated individuals appeared to indicate either (a) a possible systemic level impact of the M. leprae intra-dermal infection on other co-inhabiting members of the skin microbial community or (b) changes occurring as a result of the ongoing therapeutic regimen. To account for variability arising as a result of various factors like food preferences, climatic differences and varying lifestyles within different regions of India, study participants (in the second study) were chosen from well-established leprosy research centres located in two geographically well-separated locations i.e. Hyderabad and Miraj from India. Both the mentioned centres offer leprosy treatments at the regional level and treatment protocols in both centres are followed in accordance with World Health Organisation guidelines
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