Study Finds Skin Microbiome Differences in Women With CCCA

TOPLINE:

A study identified significant differences in the scalp microbiome composition of women with central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia (CCCA) compared with controls, particularly with significantly higher levels of Corynebacterium species in those with CCCA.

METHODOLOGY:

• This descriptive study included 12 Black women with CCCA (median age, 38.5 years) and 7 matched healthy controls without CCCA (median age, 34 years) between March 2022 and May 2023.
• Researchers analyzed scalp microbiome samples from four anatomical sites: The vertex scalp, occipital scalp, volar forearm, and inguinal crease.
• The primary outcome was the difference in scalp microbial community composition between women with CCCA and controls. Secondary outcomes included differences in specific microbial taxa.

TAKEAWAY:

• The beta diversity analysis showed distinct microbial clustering in the vertex scalp in the CCCA group (R², 0.18; P = .02), while the occipital scalp microbiomes overlapped with those of controls, with no significant differences (R², 0.06; P = .42).
• Corynebacterium was more abundant in the vertex scalp samples of patients with CCCA than controls (median relative abundance [RA], 9.8% vs 0.1%; P = .01).
• Patients with CCCA showed a higher abundance of Streptococcus (median RA, 0.3% vs 0.1%; P = .02) and Micrococcus (median RA, 0.1% vs 0.006%; P = .05), but a low abundance of Lawsonella in vertex samples (median RA, 0.3% vs 19.7% in controls; P = .04).
• A species-level analysis found that women with CCCA had a diverse range of Corynebacterium species on their vertex scalp. In contrast, the control group showed very low prevalence and diversity of Corynebacterium.

IN PRACTICE:

“In this pilot descriptive study, beta diversity analysis showed a small but significant microbial landscape distinction on the vertex scalp of those with CCCA,” the authors wrote.”While it is not clear if this is a consequence of alopecia or part of pathogenesis, these findings are distinct and consistent and enrich the limited literature on scalp microbiome,” they added.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Alexandra Firek, BS, of the Dermatology Branch, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), Bethesda, Md. It was published online on January 15 in JAMA Dermatology.

LIMITATIONS:

The authors did not list any limitations.

DISCLOSURES:

This work was supported by the NIAMS Intramural Research Program. One author reported receiving personal fees and holding stocks outside of this work.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.