Effect on the Skin Microbiota of Oral Minocycline for Rosacea

Abstract

In the rosacea an unstable skin microbiota is signi-ficant for disease progression. However, data on the influence on the skin microbiota of treatment with systemic antibiotics are limited. This single-arm trial re-cruited patients with rosacea. Oral minocycline 50 mg was administered twice daily for 6 weeks. The lesions on the cheek and nose were sampled for 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and metagenomic sequencing at baseline, 3 weeks and 6 weeks of treatment. Physio-logical parameters were detected using non-invasive instruments. After treatment, distribution of the In-vestigator Global Assessment scores changed signi-ficantly. For the skin microbiota, a notable increase in α-diversity and a shift of structure were observed after treatment. Treatment was accompanied by a re-duction in the relative abundance of Cutibacterium and Staphylococcus, indicating negative correlations with increased bacterial metabolic pathways, such as buty-rate synthesis and L-tryptophan degradation. The increased butyrate and tryptophan metabolites would be conducive to inhibiting skin inflammation and promo-ting skin barrier repair. In addition, the abundance of skin bacterial genes related to tetracycline resistance and multidrug resistance increased notably after antibiotic treatment.