Microbiome-based therapeutic strategies

[Guide]

A recent paper on "microbiome-based therapeutic strategies' states, "designing a geographically tailored therapeutic approach would need an in-depth understanding of how population and environmental parameters can affect the microbial communities and their metabolic potentials, which, we hope, may be attained in near future through construction of pan microbiome of human populations around the globe." 

The five major body habitats of the human microbiome, the Gut ( has the largest number of microbes and the greatest variety of species compared to other body habitats), Oral-cavity, Respiratory Tract, Skin (Studies suggested that diseases like atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, rosacea, acne etc. are often caused not because of pathogens but due to disruption in normal skin microbiota), and Urogenital Tract (UGT) shows "a gradual transition in the gross compositional structure along with a continual decrease in diversity of the microbiome, especially of the gut microbiome, as the human populations passed through three stages of subsistence like foraging, rural farming and industrialized urban western life."   

Front Microbiol. 2017; 8: 1162.
Published online 2017 Jun 23. doi:  10.3389/fmicb.2017.01162
PMCID: PMC5481955
Geography, Ethnicity or Subsistence-Specific Variations in Human Microbiome Composition and Diversity
Vinod K. Gupta, Sandip Paul, and Chitra Dutta

Rosacea has been connected to the gut microbiome, but obviously the skin microbiome is something to consider, and we need more research on this. In an article discussing an infection with the Leishmania parasite "To my knowledge, this is the first case where anyone has shown that a pre-existing skin microbiome can influence the outcome of an infection or a disease," said Elizabeth Grice, co-senior author and assistant professor in the departments of Dermatology and Microbiology in Penn's Perelman School of Medicine. "This opens the door to many other avenues of research." [1] 

In rosacea 'microbiome-based therapeutic strategy' antibiotics have targeted bacteria for over sixty years. While this at times has proved beneficial in improving rosacea, antibiotics are wanting when it comes to a long term approach to treating rosacea due to antibiotic resistance as well as the long term side effects and risks. The other microbiome-based strategy has focused on reducing the demodex density count in rosacea. 

There may be other microbes to consider when treating rosacea, i.e., virus, archea, protozoa, helminths, or some other yet unknown microbe. These other microbes may not be considered worth more investigation than bacteria by most reputable investigators, it may be something that independent rosacea research sponsored by the RRDi could engage in if enough rosaceans united to sponsor such an investigation. How do you feel about such research into other microbes than bacteria?

More Posts on This Subject

Ammonia-oxidizing Bacteria (AOB) for Rosacea?

Another New Article about the Gut-Brain-Skin Connection

Baby You Can Drive My Gut

BioMatrix Candid-X

Characterization of the facial microbiome in twins discordant for rosacea.

Diet and rosacea: the role of dietary change in the management of rosacea.

Demodex and rosacea revisited.

Demodex and the Gut?

Do You Have a Gut Feeling About Your Rosacea?

Everything You Need to Know About Your Skin Microbiome

Gastrointestinal Rosacea [GR], aka, Gut Rosacea

Jackson Laboratory and the Microbiome

Microbiome Research Underway

Microorganisms of the Human Microbiome

Potential role of microorganisms in the pathogenesis of rosacea.

Probiotic Approaches for the Treatment and Prevention of Ophthalmic Diseases

Rosacea and its association with enteral microbiota in Korean females.

Synbiotics for Rosacea?

The Beauty of Dirty Skin

The microbiome in dermatology.

The skin microbiome: impact of modern environments on skin ecology, barrier integrity, and systemic immune programming.

The skin microbiome: potential for novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to cutaneous disease.

Three Gut Types

Using the Skin Microbiome to Clear Rosacea

Virus and Rosacea

End Notes

[1] A perturbed skin microbiome can be 'contagious' and promote inflammation, Science Daily

[Guide]

Rosacea has for over 60 years has been treated with antibiotics. The current strategy is that antibiotics are not targeting microbes but are used for anti-inflammatory effects. However, there are a number of microbes that have been associated with rosacea (Candida Albicans, Chlamydophila pneumoniae, Demodex Mites, Helicobacter Pylori, Propionibacterium acnes, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and list keeps growing). With demodectic rosacea there are at least three microbes associated (Bacillus oleronius, Bartonella quintana, and Bacillus pumilus [see end notes 31, 68, and 70 in this article]). Antibiotic treatment is used for treating other diseases and it is noted that rosacea is improved in many cases as a side note. For example, patients treated with antibiotics for SIBO or IBS who also have rosacea note that rosacea is improved. 

A paper worth reading on the subject of gut flora discusses the 'metagenome' or the 'second genome' in the human gut which holds microbes containing more genes in the flora in the intestinal system than the rest of our bodies. The paper says, "This creates a huge dataset that has to be disentangled." [see end note 4] The paper discusses how understanding gut flora may be a key to understanding diseases.

One study by Nature Publishing Group discusses how recent research suggests that humans might be divided into three types of gut bacteria: Bacteroides, Prevotella and Ruminococcus. This may lead to personalizing medical treatment based upon which type gut microbes you predominantly have. [see end note 5] "The three gut types can explain why the uptake of medicines and nutrients varies from person to person," reports Jeroen Raes, a bioinformatician at Vrije University. [see end note 6] This may develop into a new ‘biological fingerprint’ on the same level as blood types and tissue types. [see end note 7] This may lead to a 'gut type diet' (similar to the blood type diet].

[Guide]

Logo of the Human Microbiome Project, a program of the NIH Common Fund, National Institutes of Health, image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

This subject of microbiome-based therapeutic strategies for rosacea is one of my favorite subjects which I have done a great deal of research on. You may want to read the latest article I have written on this subject of the human microbiome.