Frizon Luciana, Rocchetti Talita Trevizani, Frizon André, de Alcântara Rafael Jorge Alves, Hofling-Lima Ana Luisa, de Paiva Cintia S, Gomes José Álvaro Pereira
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Brazil.
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Brazil.
Exp Eye Res. 2025 Sep 2;260:110622. doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2025.110622.
The ocular surface microbiome plays a crucial role in maintaining immune homeostasis, and its disruption may contribute to mucosal inflammation and autoimmunity. This pilot exploratory study investigated and compared the ocular surface bacterial microbiome in patients with Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS), Sjögren's disease (SjD), and healthy controls using next-generation sequencing (NGS) and correlated these findings with dry eye parameters. Conjunctival swabs were collected from sixteen individuals: ten with SJS, three with SjD, and three healthy controls. Dry eye parameters were employed to evaluate the dry eye disease. Microbiome profiles were determined by the NGS of the 16S V3-V4 region and analyzed using the SILVA database. The microbiome exhibited notable differences at the genus level among the SJS group. Specifically, the abundance of Staphylococcus was significantly lower in the SJS group compared to both the SjD and healthy controls (p = 0.04). In contrast, increased levels of Streptococcus and Corynebacterium were associated with higher scores on the Dry Eye Disease of Dry Eye Workshop (DED DEWS score) (p = 0.003) and the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) score (p = 0.01), respectively. Conversely, elevated levels of Cutibacterium and Pseudomonas were associated with more severe dry eye, as evidenced by lower Schirmer I test results (p = 0.003) and tear break-up time (TBUT) values (p = 0.05). In contrast, the ocular microbiome of SjD patients was similar to that of healthy controls. In conclusion, patients with SJS exhibited distinct changes in the ocular microbiota, with specific bacterial genera associated with dry eye severity, suggesting a potential role for microbial alterations in the ocular surface inflammation.
眼表微生物群落在维持免疫稳态中起着关键作用，其破坏可能导致黏膜炎症和自身免疫。这项初步探索性研究使用下一代测序（NGS）调查并比较了史蒂文斯-约翰逊综合征（SJS）、干燥综合征（SjD）患者和健康对照者的眼表细菌微生物群落，并将这些结果与干眼参数相关联。从16名个体中采集结膜拭子：10名SJS患者、3名SjD患者和3名健康对照者。采用干眼参数评估干眼病。通过对16S V3-V4区域进行NGS确定微生物群落图谱，并使用SILVA数据库进行分析。SJS组在属水平上微生物群落存在显著差异。具体而言，与SjD组和健康对照组相比，SJS组葡萄球菌的丰度显著降低（p = 0.04）。相反，链球菌和棒状杆菌水平的升高分别与干眼研讨会干眼疾病评分（DED DEWS评分）较高（p = 0.003）和眼表疾病指数（OSDI）评分较高（p = 0.01）相关。相反，痤疮丙酸杆菌和假单胞菌水平升高与更严重的干眼相关，泪液分泌试验I结果较低（p = 0.003）和泪膜破裂时间（TBUT）值较低（p = 0.05）证明了这一点。相比之下，SjD患者的眼微生物群与健康对照者相似。总之，SJS患者的眼微生物群表现出明显变化，特定细菌属与干眼严重程度相关，表明微生物改变在眼表炎症中可能发挥作用。
