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Lookup NU author(s): Professor John Common
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
© The Author(s) 2025. Sebaceous free fatty acids are metabolized by multiple skin microbes into bioactive lipid mediators termed oxylipins. This study investigated correlations between skin oxylipins and microbes on the superficial skin of pre-pubescent children (N = 36) and adults (N = 100), including pre- (N = 25) and post-menopausal females (N = 25). Lipidomics and metagenomics revealed that Malassezia restricta positively correlated with the oxylipin 9,10-DiHOME on adult skin and negatively correlated with its precursor, 9,10-EpOME, on pre-pubescent skin. Co-culturing Malassezia with keratinocytes demonstrated a link between 9,10-DiHOME and pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-6 production. We also observed strong correlations between other skin oxylipins and microbial taxa, highlighting life stage differences in sebum production and microbial community composition. Our findings imply a complex host-microbe communication system mediated by lipid metabolism occurring on human skin, warranting further research into its role in skin health and disease and paving the way towards novel therapeutic targets and treatments.
Author(s): Pagac MP, Davient B, Plado LA, Lam HYI, Lee SM, Ravikrishnan A, Chua WLE, Muralidharan S, Sridharan A, Irudayaswamy AS, Srinivas R, Wearne S, Mohamed Naim AN, Ho EXP, Ng HQA, Kwah JS, Png E, Bendt AK, Wenk MR, Torta F, Nagarajan N, Common J, Chong YS, Tham EH, Shek LP-C, Loo EXL, Chambers J, Yew YW, Loh M, Dawson TL
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: npj Biofilms and Microbiomes
Year: 2025
Volume: 11
Online publication date: 13/01/2025
Acceptance date: 06/01/2025
Date deposited: 23/01/2026
ISSN (electronic): 2055-5008
Publisher: Springer Nature
URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41522-025-00652-7
DOI: 10.1038/s41522-025-00652-7
Data Access Statement: All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files.
PubMed id: 39800795
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