Bacteriophage therapy may help reduce odor-causing bacteria in armpits, a new study suggests.
For the study, researchers collected body fluid samples from the armpits of 20 healthy men. In advance, a subjective olfactory panel classified them into two types of odors, with 11 having a more noticeable smell. The researchers analyzed the matter produced from bacterial metabolism and the DNA of the skin microflora and found an increased presence of odor-causing precursors in those 11 samples along with a proliferation of Staphylococcus hominis bacteria.
Next, the team synthesized a lysin from a bacteriophage that infects S. hominis. During in vitro experiments, this lysin was found to target only S. hominis, not other bacteria normally present on the skin.
“We performed a large-scale metagenomic analysis of the skin microflora using the SHIROKANE supercomputer at the University of Tokyo and found that S. hominis is important in the development of odor,” says Assistant Professor Miho Uematsu in the Department of Immunology and Genomics at Osaka Metropolitan University in Japan, in a news release. “The identification of the lysin that attacks S. hominis is also the result of the comprehensive genome analysis.”
Dr. Miki Watanabe, who is part of the Department of Immunology and Genomics and the Department of Dermatology at Osaka Metropolitan Universi, adds: “Axillary odors are one of the few dermatological disorders in which bacteria are the primary cause. Although many patients suffer from axillary odors, there are few treatment options. We believe that this study will lead to a new therapy.”
The study was published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.
