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Greater fungal diversity found on foot regions

Substantially greater fungal diversity was found on three foot sites compared with other body regions of healthy adults, establishing this area for future research into the relationship between fungi and disease pathogenesis, according to recent study results.

“This broad genomics survey of skin fungi in healthy adults provides the framework to study fungi in the context of human diseases,” investigator Heidi H. Kong, MD, MHSc, dermatology branch, Center for Cancer Research at the National Cancer Institute, told Healio.com. “Future goals are to better understand pathophysiology and to potentially develop more targeted therapeutics.”

 

Heidi H. Kong

Kong and colleagues analyzed fungal communities from 14 skin sites in 10 healthy adults, generating more than 5 million internal transcribed spacer 1 sequences.

Fungi of the genus Malassezia dominated 11 core-body and arm sites, while fungal-community composition differences were revealed by species-level classifications. In contrast, high fungal diversity was demonstrated at three foot sites: plantar heel, toenail and toe web in the genera number observed and variation between participants. The plantar heel (median richness, approximately 80 genera) was most complex site followed by toe web and toenail (approximately 60 and 40 genera, respectively). Arm sites ranged from 18 to 32 genera; core-body sites ranged from 2 to 10 genera.

“This systemic study clearly demonstrates that human skin surfaces are complex ecosystems, providing diverse environments for microorganisms that inhabit our bodies,” the researchers wrote. “Foot sites display tremendous fungal diversity and markedly lower stability over time. New treatment approaches are required to strategically target microbial dysbiosis and to combat the increasingly observed resistance against our current arsenal of antimicrobial therapies.”

“Since dermatologists recognize the close association between fungi and skin conditions, it was important to comprehensively survey healthy human skin fungi to better understand how they relate to human diseases,” Hong said.