Neurodermatitis: Viruses discovered as a new treatment option

2023-09-29 20:01:04

Bacteriophages, which colonize the skin as viral components of the microbiome, can advance the development of innovative therapies

Vienna (OTS) – Up to 15 percent of children and five percent of adults are affected by the chronic inflammatory skin disease neurodermatitis. Despite advanced therapeutic measures, the severe itching and eczema, especially on the elbows or knee bends, represent a great burden for patients. A research team led by Wolfgang Weninger, head of the University Clinic for Dermatology at MedUni Vienna, has carried out a study New approach discovered: Bacteriophages, which colonize the skin as viral components of the microbiome, can advance the development of innovative neurodermatitis therapies. The research results were recently published in the journal “Science Advances”.

So far, the importance of bacteriophages (“bacteria eaters”, also called phages) in the human body is known primarily from analyzes of the intestine. In the search for innovative therapeutic measures for neurodermatitis (atopic dermatitis, AD), the MedUni Vienna research team has now investigated the interaction of phages and bacteria in the skin for the first time. After all, it has long been known that the progression of neurodermatitis is accompanied by massive changes in the skin microbiome. The microbiome refers to the entirety of all microorganisms such as viruses or bacteria that colonize the skin and whose balance is essential for health. Phages are viruses of different types and functions whose sole aim is to infect bacteria, thereby either destroying them or encouraging them to multiply.

New phages identified

“In our study, we discovered previously unknown phages in the microbiome of the skin samples of neurodermatitis patients that help certain bacteria grow faster in different ways,” said the first authors Karin Pfisterer and Matthias Wielscher from the University Clinic for Dermatology at MedUni Vienna. The resulting shift in the balance between phages and bacteria was not detected in the comparative swabs of healthy people and may be an explanation for the overpopulation of the skin microbiome with bacteria called Staphylococcus aureus in neurodermatitis. These findings make a decisive contribution to a better understanding of the skin bioflora in neurodermatitis patients and pave the way for the development of new, targeted therapeutic measures: a promising option lies in the identification and propagation of phages that are specialized in Staphylococcus aureus and their destruction before.

Specialists in targeted therapy

Bacteriophages are found not only in the body, but everywhere where there are bacteria. According to scientific estimates, there are 10 to the power of 31 different types of phages, which makes a number with 31 zeros. One of their special features is that they prove to be extremely selective when choosing their infection target: Most phages have specialized in a certain genus, and in many cases even in just a single type of bacteria. Although this presents science with the challenge of identifying the type of phage required for the respective purpose, it also enables their targeted use. For chronic inflammatory bowel diseases, e.g. B. therapy with phages has already proven to be effective in studies. And since the viruses make no distinction between antibiotic-resistant bacteria and other bacteria, they are also being researched as possible miracle weapons in the fight against multi-resistant germs. Further studies should now confirm phage therapy for (external) use in neurodermatitis.

Publikation: Science Advances
The phageome in normal and inflamed human skin
M. Wielscher, K. Pfisterer, D. Samardzic, P. Balsini, C. Bangert, K. Jäger, M. Buchberger, B. Selitsch, P. Pjevac, B. Willinger, W. Weninger
science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adg4015

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