- Itching is one of the worst things about eczema, and scientists still don't fully understand why it happens.
- They think that their research could one day lead to treatments for many skin problems.Eczema, which is sometimes called atopic dermatitis, affects about 223 million people around the world.
- A recent study looked into this by using animal models, human tissue, and nerve fibers.
- They came to the conclusion that Staphylococcus aureus germs might be a key piece in the puzzle.
It is one of the most common skin diseases
The itch is one of the main signs. Scratching may make the pain go away for a
short time, but it can hurt the skin, make skin diseases more likely, and make
inflammation worse.
"Itch is a big part of how people with eczema feel about their
lives," said Carsten Flohr, a professor at Kings College London and a
board member of the British Association of Dermatologists.
"It changes both the size and quality of sleep people get." "It
also changes how adults socialize and work, and how much kids enjoy
school," Flohr told Medical News Today.
The head of the National Eczema, Andrew Proctor, says that people with eczema
always have to deal with itching.
"The constant itching is one of the hardest things about living with
atopic eczema for the millions of kids and adults who have it," she told
Medical News Today.
"It often leads to the painful 'itch-scratch cycle,'" he said.
"You scratch to get rid of the itch, but then you damage your skin, making
it even itchier and more tempted to scratch."
Most long-term treatments for this kind of burning don't work very well.
But a new study in the journal Cell looked into how a certain skin microbe
might make people with eczema itch. Scientists think that the data will lead to
new ways to treat people.
The skin, the microbiota, and eczema
People think of the skin as the body's biggest organ, and it has many important
jobs to do.
Pathogens, dehydration, mechanical damage, and UV light can't get through it.
It also has sensors that let you feel things like touch, pain, and warmth.
It has sensors called pruriceptors that make you feel itchy, which is important
for people with eczema.
There are a lot of bacteria, fungi, and other germs living on the skin, as
there are on many other parts of the body. This is called the skin microbiome.
Scientists still need to learn a lot more about the human microbiome before
they can fully understand how it affects health and illness.
There is communication between the bacteria on your skin and the bacteria in
your gut. "A diverse balance is the key to a happy microbiome, just like
it is in your gut," said Flohr, who wasn't involved in the new study.
When we know how germs interact with the skin, the immune system, and each
other, we might be able to treat different skin diseases.
Medical News Today talked to Isaac Chiu, an associate professor of
immunobiology at Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts and one of the writers
of the new study. We asked him why he chose to study eczema and skin germs.
"Soil microbes that live under the skin's surface can cause pain," my
lab found before. "We were interested in whether microbes also make people
itch," he said.
So, they looked into it.
Bacteria called Staphylococcus aureus and eczema
A harmful bacteria called S. aureus is one of the main reasons people get skin
diseases.
Chiu says that studies have shown that "S. aureus is one of the most
common bacteria found on atopic dermatitis lesions."
There is also evidence that S. aureus may help cause the inflammation.Source
you can trust about eczema.
There were, however, no clear links between it and itch until now.
To get a better look at this link, a new study in Cell uses animal models,
human cells, and nerve impulses.
What the study found about the role of skin germs in eczema
The researchers first put S. aureus on the skin of mice, which they said made
it more likely for the animals to get eczema.
The mice with S. aureus also scratched a lot more than mice that did not have
it.
The next thing the researchers did was look at the enzymes that S. aureus makes
to try to figure out how it could cause this itch reaction. The experts focused
on the 10 proteases that S. aureus makes.
In the end, they found that protease V8 was the main cause of the itching
response: When scientists gave mice V8 by itself, the mice began to scratch.
The researchers also found that areas of human skin with eczema had higher
amounts of V8 than areas of skin that did not have eczema.
How eczema affects the senses
Lastly, the researchers said that they showed V8 could connect with a certain
receptor and trigger pruriceptor neurons in both mice and people.
The receptor in question is called PAR1, which stands for proteinase-activated
receptor 1. When they stopped PAR1, it made people less itchy and lessen the
damage that V8 and S. aureus did to the skin.
It looks like V8 is a very useful enzyme for S. aureus. Chiu said that studies
from the past shows "that V8 is important for many S. aureus
processes."
"For instance, it helps the body get nutrients, blocks immune factors, and
cuts up proteins in the bloodstream," he explained.
Continuing to study eczema
Vorapaxar (ZONTIVITY), an oral drug that blocks PAR1 and helps stop thrombotic
cardiovascular events, has already been cleared by the Federal Drug
Administration (FDA).
"Right now, the only way to block PAR1 is with oral compounds."
"Right now, there are no topical versions of these drugs," Chiu said.
He thinks that scientists will be able to make topical medicines that can help
people with eczema and other skin diseases that make their skin itch. He does
say, though, that treatments like these will not be widely available for
"a long way" yet.
Chiu and his coworkers are still looking into it. He said, "We are still
looking into the role of V8 in itching and skin inflammation."
"It's possible that scratching could cause swelling and other long-term
effects, like immune responses." "I'm also interested in other
proteases from microbes and wondering if they could make people itch,"
Chiu said.
Along with that, he wants to keep looking into how PAR1 works with V8.
He was optimistic about what these results could mean for the future:
"This is an exciting discovery because it could help researchers find new
ways to treat eczema." One possible way to treat burning would be with a
drug that blocks the enzyme that seems to be involved.
