Looking to find the most effective probiotics? You may need to look no further than your own body. <\/p>\n
This approach is inherently superior to current pharmaceutically derived antibiotics, the authors conclude. Unlike bottled antibiotics that may kill microbes indiscriminatelyfriends or foesthe patients skin bacteria selectively killed off harmful S. aureus and left the protective community intact. <\/p>\n
The researchers, led by dermatologist Richard Gallo of the University of California, San Diego, developed the treatment approach by first noting that people with healthy skin have a bunch of normal skin bacteria that seemed to keep S. aureus in check. But on people with atopic dermatitis (AD)a type of eczema that results in dry, itchy patches of skinthose helpful skin bacteria are less abundant. This squares with what the dermatologists already knew: people with AD are more likely to carry around S. aureus, which can spur and exacerbate those itchy, dry skin patches. <\/p>\n
When the researchers took a closer look at those beneficial bacteria S. epidermidis and S. hoministhey found that the microbes were oozing out antimicrobial compounds that selectively kill S. aureus. The chemicals were strong enough to fight off even the dastardly Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). And when those compounds mixed with antimicrobial compounds made by the human skin, the compounds worked synergisticallythat is, together they were more deadly to S. aureus than the sum of their independent killing abilities. Yet, they still left other benign and beneficial microbes unharmed. <\/p>\n
Scanning the arms of five AD patients with S. aureus, the researchers could find a few drug-pumping S. epidermidis and S. hominis coloniesbut they were rare. Nevertheless, the researchers grew the strains in lab, creating vast quantities. Then they mixed the microbe slurry with a standard moisturizer. The result was five patient-specific lotions brimming with helpful, personally derived microbes. <\/p>\n
Next, the five patients slathered one of their arms with plain lotion and the other with their personalized probiotic lotion. The final concentration of microbes from the slathered lotion was around 100,000 colony-forming units per square centimeter of skin. This is about the same density of bacteria that youd find on healthy skin. <\/p>\n
After 24 hourswith no bathingS. aureus levels dropped significantly on the arms of three patients with microbe-laden lotion. The harmful germ disappeared completely on the treated limbs of the other two patients. <\/p>\n
Overall, the authors conclude these findings not only demonstrate the therapeutic potential of our own microbiomes, but also the damage that an out-of-whack community can cause. <\/p>\n
Science Translational Medicine, 2017. DOI:10.1126\/scitranslmed.aah4680 (About DOIs). <\/p>\n
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\nEczema patients treated by drug-producing microbes found on their own skin - Ars Technica<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"