Microbial diversity in leg ulcer and skin in Sickle Cell disease

Leg ulcers are a common, painful, and difficult-to-treat complication of sickle cell disease due to their prolonged healing process. The microbial composition of these wounds remains poorly understood. This study investigated the microbiota diversity in sickle cell disease leg ulcers and associations with laboratory parameters.

Samples were collected from leg ulcers, intact skin adjacent to the ulcers, and intact skin from healthy controls. Microbiome profiling was performed by sequencing the V4 region of the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene. The laboratory results of patients with sickle cell disease leg ulcers were analyzed alongside the identified taxa using correlation-based analyses.

Microbial diversity was significantly lower in sickle cell disease leg ulcers compared to intact skin. Additionally, leukocytes and mean corpuscular volume were statistically associated with the relative abundance of bacteria of the genera Pseudomonas and Aeromonas. Staphylococcus spp. was the predominant genus identified in leg ulcers and was negatively associated with Pseudomonas spp., reflecting a dysbiotic microbial profile characterized by taxa commonly associated with chronic wounds.

The observed associations between bacterial taxa and laboratory parameters are exploratory, do not imply causality, and contribute to the characterization of the microbial ecology of sickle cell disease leg ulcers.