Skin microbiota in atopic dermatitis (AD) patients differ from those of healthy people. 

The goal of a new study published in Nutrients was to determine the possible relationship between gut and skin microbiota in patients with allergies.

This study entailed simultaneous analysis of the two compartments of microbiota in infants with and without allergic symptoms. Here, 59 infants with food allergy and/or atopic dermatitis and 28 healthy children included. The skin and gut microbiota were evaluated using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. 

The results revealed no differences in the α-diversity of dermal or fecal microbiota between allergic and non-allergic infants. Nevertheless, a significant relationship was found between bacterial community structure and allergy phenotypes, especially in the fecal samples. Certain clinical conditions were associated with characteristic bacterial taxa in the skin and gut microbiota. In addition, positive correlations were found between skin and fecal samples—in the abundance of Gemella among allergic infants, and Lactobacillus and Bacteroides among healthy infants. Furthermore, differences in β-diversity and bacterial species abundance could be detected—which was speculated to be dependent on the phenotype of the allergy. 

It was concluded that in some organisms, β-diversity bacterial abundance in skin and feces samples may be correlated, and these correlations might serve as indicators of the host’s allergic state.

Source: Nutrients. 2021 May 15;13(5):1682. doi: 10.3390/nu13051682.