We do not live in a sterile world. In fact, bacteria on our skin’s surface are not only many but diverse and fairly constant. However, those same bacteria are not so benign if we end up with inflammation - whether due to injury, illness or allergy.
It turns out according to the latest study out of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine that our normal skin bacteria could actually be helping us more than we know - these “hitchhikers” could be allowing our bodies to better control inflammation in the case of an injury.
The study protocol used both mice and human cell cultures, and was exploring the “hygiene hypothesis” which points to a lack of exposure to germs and bacteria in childhood as later setting us up for increased susceptibility to disease of all kinds.
The hygiene hypothesis is implicated strongly in the development of allergies.
Dr Richard L Gallo, MD, PhD and professor of medicine and pediatrics at UCSD said, “The exciting implications of Dr Lai’s work is that it provides a molecular basis to understand the ‘hygiene hypothesis’ … and wound repair response.” As a result of these findings, Gallo hypothesizes that new therapies could result for inflammatory skin problems.
The skin’s normal bacteria is known to include a lot of microbes that can cause us problems. One of these is staphylococcal bacteria, who are behind the dreaded hospital “staph infection”. This is a bacteria that will cause a problem if it gets below the skin’s surface. Amazingly, these same bacteria do not appear to have any dangerous effect when present on the surface of unbroken skin.
In fact, staphylococcal bacteria may keep the inflammatory process in check. Gallo and his colleague Yu Ping Lai have shown that there is an mechanism that was previously unknown that shows that a product of the staph bacteria is what inhibits skin inflammation. Staph bacteria create a substance called Staphylococcal lipteichoic acid (called LTA) which acts on other skin cells called keratinocytes. These keratinocytes are the main type of cell in the skin.
These findings are now published in the online journal, Nature Medicine.
Source: Health Jockey
