Life stage impact on the human skin ecosystem: lipids and the microbial community

Life stage impact on the human skin ecosystem: lipids and the microbial community

npj Biofilms and Microbiomes

10.1038/s41522-025-00652-7

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41522-025-00652-7

Martin P. Pagac, Bala Davient, Luca Antonio Plado, Hilbert Yuen In Lam, Shi Mun Lee, Aarthi Ravikrishnan, Wee Ling Esther Chua, Sneha Muralidharan, Aishwarya Sridharan, Antony S. Irudayaswamy, Ramasamy Srinivas, Stephen Wearne, Ahmad Nazri Mohamed Naim, Eliza Xin Pei Ho, H. Q. Amanda Ng, Junmei Samantha Kwah, Eileen Png, Anne K. Bendt, Markus R. Wenk, Federico Torta, Niranjan Nagarajan, John Common, Yap Seng Chong, Elizabeth Huiwen Tham, Lynette Pei-chi Shek, Evelyn Xiu Ling Loo, John Chambers, Yik Weng Yew, Marie Loh, Thomas L. Dawson

skin microbiome, Clinical lipidomics, Malassezia, Menopause, Ageing

13 January 2025

Pagac, M. P., Davient, B., Plado, L. A., Lam, H. Y. I., Lee, S. M., Ravikrishnan, A., Chua, W. L. E., Muralidharan, S., Sridharan, A., Irudayaswamy, A. S., Srinivas, R., Wearne, S., Mohamed Naim, A. N., Ho, E. X. P., Ng, H. Q. A., Kwah, J. S., Png, E., Bendt, A. K., Wenk, M. R., … Dawson, T. L. (2025). Life stage impact on the human skin ecosystem: lipids and the microbial community. Npj Biofilms and Microbiomes, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41522-025-00652-7

Sebaceous free fatty acids are metabolized by multiple skin microbes into bioactive lipid mediators termed oxylipins. This study investigated correlations between skin oxylipins and microbes on the superficial skin of pre-pubescent children (N = 36) and adults (N = 100), including pre- (N = 25) and post-menopausal females (N = 25). Lipidomics and metagenomics revealed that Malassezia restricta positively correlated with the oxylipin 9,10-DiHOME on adult skin and negatively correlated with its precursor, 9,10-EpOME, on pre-pubescent skin. Co-culturing Malassezia with keratinocytes demonstrated a link between 9,10-DiHOME and pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-6 production. We also observed strong correlations between other skin oxylipins and microbial taxa, highlighting life stage differences in sebum production and microbial community composition. Our findings imply a complex host-microbe communication system mediated by lipid metabolism occurring on human skin, warranting further research into its role in skin health and disease and paving the way towards novel therapeutic targets and treatments.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

This research / project is supported by the National Research Foundation, Singapore, and Singapore Ministry of Health’s National Medical Research Council (NMRC) - Translational and Clinical Research (TCR) Flagship Programme
Grant Reference no. : NMRC/TCR/004-NUS/2008, NMRC/TCR/012-NUHS/2014

This research is supported by core funding from: Institute for Human Development and Potential
Grant Reference no. :

This research / project is supported by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) Biomedical Research Council - Industry Alignment Fund - Pre-Positioning grant
Grant Reference no. : H17/01/a0/004

This research / project is supported by the Skin Research Institute of Singapore - Asian Skin Microbiome Program, Industry Alignment Fund - Pre-Positioning grant
Grant Reference no. : H18/01/a0/016, H22/J1/a0/040

This research / project is supported by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) Biomedical Research Council - Central Research Fund Translational Research (CRF-ATR) Award
Grant Reference no. :

This research / project is supported by the Singapore Ministry of Health’s National Medical Research Council - Open Fund – Large Collaborative Grant funding scheme
Grant Reference no. : MOH-000271-00

This research / project is supported by the Singapore Ministry of Health’s National Medical Research Council - Singapore Translational Research Investigator Award
Grant Reference no. : NMRC/STaR/0028/2017

https://oar.a-star.edu.sg/communities-collections/articles/21480

2055-5008

A*STAR Skin Research Labs

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41522-025-00652-7.pdf