A multi-study analysis enables identification of potential microbial features associated with skin aging signs via Frontiers

Tyler Myers,  Amina Bousliman, Shi Huang, Shalisa T. , Cécile Clavaud, Anissa Azouaoui, Alban Ott, eAudrey Gueniche, Charbel Bouez, Qian Zheng, Luc AguilarRob Knight, Magali Moreau, Se Jin Song

Front. Aging, 11 January 2024
Sec. Genetics, Genomics and Epigenomics of Aging
Volume 4 – 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fragi.2023.1304705

Introduction

During adulthood, the skin microbiota can be relatively stable if environmental conditions are also stable, yet physiological changes of the skin with age may affect the skin microbiome and its function. The microbiome is an important factor to consider in aging since it constitutes most of the genes that are expressed on the human body. However, severity of specific aging signs (one of the parameters used to measure “apparent” age) and skin surface quality (e.g., texture, hydration, pH, sebum, etc.) may not be indicative of chronological age. For example, older individuals can have young looking skin (young apparent age) and young individuals can be of older apparent age.

Methods

Here we aim to identify microbial taxa of interest associated to skin quality/aging signs using a multi-study analysis of 13 microbiome datasets consisting of 16S rRNA amplicon sequence data and paired skin clinical data from the face.

Results

We show that there is a negative relationship between microbiome diversity and transepidermal water loss, and a positive association between microbiome diversity and age. Aligned with a tight link between age and wrinkles, we report a global positive association between microbiome diversity and Crow’s feet wrinkles, but with this relationship varying significantly by sub-study. Finally, we identify taxa potentially associated with wrinkles, TEWL and corneometer measures.

Discussion

These findings represent a key step towards understanding the implication of the skin microbiota in skin aging signs.
Highlights

• We confirm the positive link between chronological age and skin microbiome diversity, but we also observed a global positive association between microbiome diversity and grade of Crow’s feet wrinkles, one of the key signs of skin aging, although the relationship varied among the included sub-studies. We additionally observed a negative link between microbiome diversity and transepidermal water loss.

• The link between Crow’s feet wrinkles and microbial features were explored while considering the effect of individual studies and chronological age as a confounder, identifying several potential biomarkers.

• Building a multi-study analysis using independent studies is a valuable method to bolster sample sizes and address questions not possible by individual studies alone. However, as the sub-studies are often generated by different principal investigators and methods, analysis relies on data harmonization and the use of analytic tools that are able to account for those differences.

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