Skin bacteria make the immune system fit

Bacteria on the skin supported immune fitness

07/29/2012

Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda have discovered in the course of research that it's not just intestinal flora bacteria that support the immune system. The colonization of bacteria on human skin also protects your health. Excessive cleanliness can therefore be harmful to your health.

Naturopaths know that the intestinal flora should be built especially after an antibiotic therapy to support the immune system (intestinal flora build up). But not only in the intestinal flora countless bacteria live in an "evolutionary partnership with humans", but also on the skin, as a study published in the journal "Science" (2012, doi: 10.1126 / science.1225152) was published.

Bacteria colonize the skin
The US research team led by Yasmine Belkaid of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda has been working on an experiment with germ-free mice. In the first study, the animal skin was colonized with the bacterial strain of Staphylococcus epidermidis. These bacteria also occur in humans as a safe germ on the skin. Subsequently, the skin of the animals was contaminated with the pathogen Leishmania major. The pathogen (protozoan) is responsible for numerous animal diseases and can trigger the tropical disease leishmaniasis in humans. As expected, the infection triggered a typical defense reaction in the rodents. T cells were formed to eliminate the pest.

In the second experimental setup, germ-free mice without the addition of the bacteria Staphylococcus epidermidis were infected with the pathogen Leishmania major. Now, the formation of T cells in the second group was absent. "Our result suggests that normal bacterial colonization of the skin trains and strengthens immune system preparedness," the researchers summarized in the study report.

Skin flora activates immune fitness
The cytokine "interleukin-1", which is also involved in the development of psoriasis and other inflammatory diseases of the skin, played a key role in the immunizing reaction. The study director Yasmine Belkaid suggests in her report that the skin flora on the activation of special proteins has an influence on the development of skin diseases. The findings could, in their opinion, lead to the development of new "rational therapies". The researcher is thinking in particular of vaccines and skin-specific enhancers.

Colonization leads to local effects
However, further studies showed that the bacterial colonization of the intestine can not affect the immune defense of the skin. From this the scientists conclude that bacterial skin colonization only has a regional influence on the preparedness to defend themselves. This also applies to the skin, the intestines of the lungs or other organs. To secure the assumptions, further studies are necessary. (Sb)

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