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PMID: 21407241 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural Review

The skin microbiome.

Nature reviews. Microbiology ·Vol. 9 ·No. 4 ·2011-04-00 ·Pages 244-53

Grice EA, Segre JA

Abstract

The skin is the human body's largest organ, colonized by a diverse milieu of microorganisms, most of which are harmless or even beneficial to their host. Colonization is driven by the ecology of the skin surface, which is highly variable depending on topographical location, endogenous host factors and exogenous environmental factors. The cutaneous innate and adaptive immune responses can modulate the skin microbiota, but the microbiota also functions in educating the immune system. The development of molecular methods to identify microorganisms has led to an emerging view of the resident skin bacteria as highly diverse and variable. An enhanced understanding of the skin microbiome is necessary to gain insight into microbial involvement in human skin disorders and to enable novel promicrobial and antimicrobial therapeutic approaches for their treatment.

MeSH Terms
Adaptive Immunity Humans Immunity, Innate Metagenome Skin/anatomy & histology,immunology,microbiology Skin Diseases, Infectious/immunology,microbiology
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Grice Elizabeth A
Genetics and Molecular Biology Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-4442, USA.
Segre Julia A
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Article Info
Journal
Nature reviews. Microbiology
Abbr.
Nat Rev Microbiol
ISSN
1740-1534
DOI
10.1038/nrmicro2537
Published
2011-04-00
Pages
244-53
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
101190261
PMCID
PMC3535073
Subset
IM
Grants
Intramural NIH HHS · ZIA HG000180-11 · United States
NIAMS NIH HHS · AR057504 · United States
Corrections
ErratumIn
-
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1038/nrmicro2537 PMC Full Text View journal details
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