Emollient use alters skin barrier and microbes in infants at risk for developing atopic dermatitis

Study information

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Claregrieve1 on 2022/11/5

study design

randomized controlled trial

Citation

PMID PubMed identifier for scientific articles.

29489859

DOI Digital object identifier for electronic documents.

10.1371/journal.pone.0192443

URI

Authors

Glatz M, Jo JH, Kennedy EA, Polley EC, Segre JA, Simpson EL, Kong HH

Journal

PloS one

Year

2018

BACKGROUND: Emollients are a mainstay of treatment in atopic dermatitis (AD), a disease distinguished by skin bacterial dysbiosis. However, changes in skin microbiota when emollients are used as a potential AD preventative measure in infants remain incompletely characterized. RESULTS: We compared skin barrier parameters, AD development, and bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences of cheek, dorsal and volar forearm samples from 6-month-old infants with a family history of atopy randomized to receive emollients (n = 11) or no emollients (controls, n = 12). The emollient group had a lower skin pH than the control group. The number of bacterial taxa in the emollient group was higher than in the control group at all sites. The Streptococcus salivarius proportion was higher in the emollient versus control groups at all sites. S. salivarius proportion appeared higher in infants without AD compared to infants with AD. A decrease in S. salivarius abundance was further identified in a separate larger population of older children demonstrating an inverse correlation between AD severity at sampling sites and S. salivarius proportions. CONCLUSIONS: The decreased skin pH and the increased proportion of S. salivarius after long-term emollient use in infants at risk for developing AD may contribute to the preventative effects of emollients in high-risk infants.

Experiment 1

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Curated date: 2021/01/10

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Subjects

Location of subjects: United States of America

Host species Species from which microbiome was sampled. Contact us to have more species added.: Homo sapiens

Body site Anatomical site where microbial samples were extracted from according to the Uber Anatomy Ontology: Skin of cheek Cheek skin,Skin of cheek,skin of cheek

Condition The experimental condition / phenotype studied according to the Experimental Factor Ontology

Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies: no emollient use

Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies: emollient use

Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group: infant randomized to emollient therapy

Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group: 9

Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group: 10

Antibiotics exclusion Number of days without antibiotics usage (if applicable) and other antibiotics-related criteria used to exclude participants (if any): during study

Lab analysis

Sequencing type: 16S

16S variable region One or more hypervariable region(s) of the bacterial 16S gene: V1-V3

Sequencing platform Manufacturer and experimental platform used for quantifying microbial abundance: Roche454

Statistical Analysis

Data transformation Data transformation applied to microbial abundance measurements prior to differential abundance testing (if any).: relative abundances

Statistical test: Mann-Whitney (Wilcoxon)

Significance threshold p-value or FDR threshold used for differential abundance testing (if any): 0.05

MHT correction Have statistical tests be corrected for multiple hypothesis testing (MHT)?: Yes

Alpha Diversity

Shannon Estimator of species richness and species evenness: more weight on species richness: unchanged

Chao1 Abundance-based estimator of species richness: increased

Richness Number of species: increased

Signature 1

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Claregrieve1 on 2022/11/5

Curated date: 2021/01/10

Curator: Lucy Mellor

Revision editor(s): WikiWorks

Source: Figure 3b

Description: Relative abundance of Streptococcus salivarius in infants randomized to emollient and control in cheek sample

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in emollient use

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Streptococcus salivarius

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Experiment 2

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Differences from previous experiment shown

Subjects

Body site Anatomical site where microbial samples were extracted from according to the Uber Anatomy Ontology: Skin of forearm Forearm skin,Lower arm skin,Lower segment of arm skin,Skin of antebrachial region,Skin of lower arm,Skin of lower segment of arm,Skin of zeugopod of arm,Skin of forearm,skin of forearm