Wednesday 2 October 2013

Immune system and skin microbiome

Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated that the immune system influences the skin microbiome. A new study has found that the skin microbiome (a collection of microorganisms inhabiting the human body) is governed in part  by the branch of the immune system called complement. In turn microbes on the skin tweak the complement system, as well as immune surveillance of the skin. The research team found that complement may, in part, be responsible for maintaining a diverse set of microbes on our skin and keeping the skin healthy, which could play a role in a host of skin diseases.

The researcher speculate that if scientists can work out the skin microbiome and its relationship with complement, they might be able to tweak the microbial population one way or another to, for instance, modulate complement activation in patients with diseases that are in part caused by dysregulated or dysfunctional signalling,

For further details, see the following paper:

Christel Chehoud, Stavros Rafail, Amanda S. Tyldsley, John T. Seykora, John D. Lambris, and Elizabeth A. Grice. Complement modulates the cutaneous microbiome and inflammatory milieu. PNAS, August 26, 2013 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1307855110

Posted by Tim Sandle

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