Ju Hyun Jeong, Song Woo Hyun, Shin Ji Hae, Lee Ji Hae, Bae Jung Min, Lee Young Bok, Lee Minho
Department of Dermatology, St. Vincent's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 16247, Republic of Korea.
Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang 10326, Republic of Korea.
Int J Mol Sci. 2025 Mar 24;26(7):2939. doi: 10.3390/ijms26072939.
Vitiligo is an autoimmune skin disease with a significant psychological burden and complex pathogenesis. While genetic factors contribute approximately 30% to its development, recent evidence suggests a crucial role of the gut microbiome in autoimmune diseases. This study investigated differences in gut microbiome composition and metabolic pathways between active spreading vitiligo patients and healthy controls using shotgun whole-genome sequencing in a Korean cohort. Taxonomic profiling reveals distinct characteristics in microbial community structure, with vitiligo patients showing an imbalanced proportion dominated by Actinomycetota and Bacteroidota. The vitiligo group exhibited significantly reduced abundance of specific species including , and , and increased compared to healthy controls. Metabolic pathway analysis identified significant enrichment in O-glycan biosynthesis pathways in vitiligo patients, while healthy controls showed enrichment in riboflavin metabolism and bacterial chemotaxis pathways. These findings provide new insights into the gut-skin axis in vitiligo pathogenesis and suggest potential therapeutic targets through microbiota modulation.
白癜风是一种自身免疫性皮肤病，具有重大的心理负担和复杂的发病机制。虽然遗传因素对其发病的贡献率约为30%，但最近的证据表明肠道微生物群在自身免疫性疾病中起关键作用。本研究在一个韩国队列中，使用鸟枪法全基因组测序调查了活动性进展期白癜风患者与健康对照之间肠道微生物群组成和代谢途径的差异。分类学分析揭示了微生物群落结构的独特特征，白癜风患者显示出以放线菌门和拟杆菌门为主的比例失衡。与健康对照相比，白癜风组中特定物种（包括 、 和 ）的丰度显著降低，而 增加。代谢途径分析确定白癜风患者的O-聚糖生物合成途径显著富集，而健康对照在核黄素代谢和细菌趋化途径中富集。这些发现为白癜风发病机制中的肠-皮肤轴提供了新的见解，并通过微生物群调节提示了潜在的治疗靶点。
