Cutaneous dysbiosis characterizes the post-allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation period.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-24-2025

Publication Title

Blood Adv

Keywords

JGM

JAX Source

Blood Adv. Forthcoming 2025

ISSN

2473-9537

PMID

39853270

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1182/bloodadvances.2021004792

Grant

.O. is supported by the NIH (DP2 GM126893-01, 1U54NS105539, 1 U19 AI142733, 1 R21 AR075174), the NSF (1853071), the American Cancer Society, and Leo Foundation. A.E. is supported by the NIH (K99GM135540), The Jackson Laboratory Scholars Program, and the Maximilian & Marion Hoffman Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow.

Abstract

Gut dysbiosis is linked to mortality and the development of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), but the impact of cutaneous dysbiosis remains unexplored. We performed a pilot observational study and obtained retroauricular and forearm skin swabs from 12 adult patients prior to conditioning chemotherapy/radiation, and at 1-week, 1-month and 3-months after allogeneic HSCT, and performed shotgun metagenomic sequencing. The cutaneous microbiome among HSCT patients was enriched for gram-negative bacteria such as E coli and Pseudomonas, fungi, and viruses. Enrichment with bacteriophages and Polyomavirus sp, was observed among patients who died within 1-year, while we observed longitudinal stability of the cutaneous microbiome at the 3-month time point among those who survived beyond 1 year post-HSCT, although these may simply be a reflection of the overall medical status of the patients. There was no association with fungal abundance and any of the outcomes observed. The cutaneous microbiome may be a reservoir of pathobionts among allogeneic HSCT patients. Our findings suggest that cutaneous dysbiosis exists post-HSCT, but the ultimate implication of this to patient outcomes remains to be seen. Larger studies are required.

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