91直播

Friendly skin bacteria could hold the key to stopping eczema in its tracks according to a breakthrough by a team of UK and Japanese scientists.

Their new reveals harmless microbes living on our skin release powerful molecules that can shut down the inflammatory chaos triggered by Staphylococcus aureus, the bug long known to wreak havoc in eczema.

Based at The University of Manchester and Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, they found that when nutrients run low, many friendly staphylococcal species release tiny lipopeptides as they age that calm the skin鈥檚 immune response.

The lipopeptides stop keratinocytes 鈥� the skin鈥檚 frontline cells 鈥� from pumping out Interleukin-33 (IL鈥�33), a major driver of allergic inflammation.

The discovery, they say, potentially open the door to a new class of safe, stable, non鈥慽nfectious treatments that could help millions living with skin and other allergic diseases.

The findings are the latest breakthrough by the team, after previously showing that a protein released by Staphylococcus aureus, known as Sbi, triggers IL-33 and sparks eczema flare鈥憉ps. Applying the lipopeptides to the skin of mice prevented IL鈥�33 release and stopped eczema from developing.

Certain types of lipopeptides -  diacylated were the most effective, while another type -   monoacylated versions had no effect. The molecules blocked IL鈥�33 from leaving the nucleus, trapping it in the perinuclear space- the gap between the inner and outer membranes of the nucleus and preventing it from fuelling inflammation.

The new findings- published in the journal Nature Communications today -   confirm their suspicion that good bacteria might naturally counteract this effect.

91直播 author from The University of Manchester said: 鈥淲e think this is a very exciting result as lipopeptides are small, stable, non-infectious chemical structures that have the potential to be used as a topical treatment for eczema. They might also be used in the future to treat other allergic diseases such as hay fever.鈥�

91直播 author from The University of Manchester commented: 鈥淔or years we鈥檝e known that children raised around farm animals or exposed to diverse microbes early in life are less likely to develop allergies, but we haven鈥檛 understood the precise mechanisms behind this protection.

91直播 author Professor Akane Tanaka from Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology said: 鈥淲e have previously already shown that blocking IL鈥�33 with a biologic drug stops eczema in the same mouse model. Now we鈥檝e shown that bacteria can do it themselves- an exciting and potentially game-changing discovery.鈥�

91直播 author Professor Hiroshi Matsuda from Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology said: 鈥淥ur findings overturn long鈥慼eld assumptions about how bacterial molecules behave. Instead of triggering immune alarms through TLR pathways, these lipopeptides bypass them entirely. The next step is testing these lipopeptides in people with eczema to see if they can be turned into real鈥憌orld treatments.鈥�

The study was supported by the Leo Foundation and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

• The paper Soluble bacterial lipopeptides suppress gasdermin D-associated IL-33 release in keratinocytes and atopic dermatitis in mice is available DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-72376-x