Folliculitis Decalvans Has a Heterogeneous Microbiological Signature and Impaired Immunological Response

Folliculitis decalvans (FD) is a rare primary neutrophilic scarring alopecia whose etiology has not been completely elucidated yet.

The aim of the study was to determine if the follicular microbiota residing in FD-affected hair follicles had a distinct microbiological signature and if an aberrant immune response was present in the pathogenesis of FD.

We conducted a cross-sectional study of 10 patients affected by FD. Trichoscopy-guided follicular biopsies were taken from affected and healthy scalp to identify the follicular microbiome using next-generation sequencing. We searched for microbiological biomarkers of FD-affected follicles using the linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size (LEfSe) tool. Additionally, peripheral blood mononuclear cells were obtained, and their cytokine production was quantified after incubation with pathogen-associated molecular patterns isolated from patients' biopsies and compared with healthy controls.

β-diversity analysis showed statistically significant differences regarding bacteria comparing follicular microbiota of healthy and FD-affected hairs. Ruminococcaceae, Agathobacter sp., Tyzzerella sp., and Bacteriodales vadin HA21 family were good predictors of disease status. IL-10, TNF-α, and IL-6 levels were significantly decreased in patients after incubation with various strains of bacteria compared with controls.

FD hair follicles have a specific heterogenous follicular bacterial microbiota signature. Additionally, these patients seem to have an impaired immunological response.