Forum for Nordic Dermato-Venereology Nr 2, 2018 | Page 20

Dissertation
The Skin Microbiome – Investigations on Skin Malignancies and Preterm
Newborn Skin
A lexander S alava
Skin and Allergy Hospital, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
A dissertation with the title “The skin microbiome - investigations on skin malignancies and preterm new-
born skin”took place on April 6, 2018 at the auditorium of the Skin and Allergy Hospital, Helsinki University
Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. Supervisor: Prof Antti Lauerma, Skin and Allergy Hospital, Helsinki University
Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. Opponent: Prof Tilo Biedermann, Department of Dermatology and Allergology,
Thechnical University of Munich, Munich, Germany. The thesis is available at: https://helda.helsinki.fi/bit-
stream/handle/10138/232567/THESKINM.pdf?sequence=1
Skin disorders have been associated with specific microbiome
changes and raised an interest in developing new diagnostic
methods and treatments. Our object was to investigate the
microbiome in skin cancer (melanoma) and inflammatory skin
disorders (parapsoriasis) and to explore the skin microbiome
in very low birth weight infants in intensive care and possible
association to neonatal sepsis.
Microbiome samples were taken of 15 cutaneous melano-
mas and 17 benign melanocytic naevi, of 13 patients with
parapsoriasis and 12 very low birth weight infants during
treatment in intensive care. Sequencing was carried out on
454 GS-FLX Titanium and Illumina MiSeq platforms and the
data was analyzed by bioinformatics. There were no significant
differences in the microbiome of melanomas, melanocytic
naevi and controls. Additionally, the microbiome showed
no significant differences between parapsoriasis and the
same patient’s healthy skin. We observed a high cutaneous
microbial diversity in most of the infants at birth and there
was a decrease in diversity during the first three weeks of life.
There was no association between microbiome changes and
neonatal sepsis.
Fig. 1. From left to right: Prof Tilo Biedermann (Opponent), Prof. Antti
Lauerma (Supervisor), Alexander Salava (Respondent).
care treatment and antibiotics. Neonatal sepsis is not linked
to microbiome changes and it is likely that other factors play
a role, e.g. skin injury by medical devices and concomitant
infections.
Publications
The results suggest that microbiome swab sampling may not be
helpful in diagnostics of melanoma or parapsoriasis. Moreover,
microbiome changes seem not to play a role in parapsoriasis.
We could demonstrate that very low birth weight infants
in intensive care have a high cutaneous microbial diversity
during the first days of life regardless of the way of delivery,
prematurity causes or perinatal infections. The diversity de-
creases during the first weeks of life possibly due to intensive
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1. Salava A, Aho V, Pereira P, Koskinen K, Paulin L, Auvinen P, Lauer-
ma A. Skin microbiome in melanomas and melanocytic nevi. Eur
J Dermatol 2016; 26: 49–55.
2. Salava A, Pereira P, Aho V, Väkevä L, Paulin L, Auvinen P, Ranki A,
Lauerma A. Skin microbiome in small- and large-plaque parapso-
riasis. Acta Derm Venereol 2017; 97: 685–691.
3. Salava A, Aho V, Lybeck E, Pereira P, Paulin L, Nupponen I, et al.
Loss of cutaneous microbial diversity during first three weeks of life
in very low birthweight infants. Exp Dermatol 2017; 26: 861–867.
Forum for Nord Derm Ven 2018, Vol. 23, No. 2