Bacterial distribution on the ocular surface of patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome

Yong Chan Kim, Baknoon Ham, Kui Dong Kang, Jun Myeong Yun, Man Jae Kwon, Hyun Seung Kim, Hyung Bin Hwang

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    13 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Many studies have shown that gut microbial dysbiosis is a major factor in the etiology of autoimmune diseases but none have suggested that the ocular surface (OS) microbiome is associated with Sjögren’s syndrome (SS). In this prospective study, we analyzed bacterial distribution on the OS in patients with primary SS. Among the 120 subjects included in this study, 48 patients (group A) had primary SS, whereas 72 subjects (group B) had dry eye symptoms that were unrelated to SS. We evaluated clinical dry eye parameters such as the OS disease index, ocular staining score (OSS), Schirmer’s I test, and tear break-up time (TBUT). Conjunctival swabs were used to analyze the microbial communities from the two groups. Bacterial 16S rRNA genes were sequenced using the Illumina MiSeq platform, and the data were analyzed using the QIIME 1.9.1 program. The Shannon index was significantly lower in group A than in group B microbiota (p < 0.05). An analysis of similarity using the Bray–Curtis distance method found no difference in beta-diversity between the two groups (p > 0.05). In group A, Actinobacteria at the phylum level and Corynebacteria at the genus level exhibited low abundance than group B, but the differences were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). SS apparently decreases the diversity of the OS microbial community. These observations may be related to the pathophysiology of SS and should be investigated in future studies.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number1715
    JournalScientific reports
    Volume12
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2022 Dec

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    We thank Dr. Dion Antonopoulos and Mr. Jason Koval from Argonne National Laboratory (Lemont, IL, USA) for sequencing the samples. The authors acknowledge financial support from the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning (2017R1C1B5017408). This research was supported by a Grant of Translational R&D Project through the Institute for Bio-Medical Convergence, Incheon St. Mary’s Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea. The authors alone are responsible for the content and preparation of this article.

    Funding Information:
    We thank Dr. Dion Antonopoulos and Mr. Jason Koval from Argonne National Laboratory (Lemont, IL, USA) for sequencing the samples. The authors acknowledge financial support from the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning (2017R1C1B5017408). This research was supported by a Grant of Translational R&D Project through the Institute for Bio-Medical Convergence, Incheon St. Mary?s Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea. The authors alone are responsible for the content and preparation of this article.

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2022, The Author(s).

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General

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