Ocular conjunctival microbiome profiling in dry eye disease: A case control pilot study

Purpose: Keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS) or dry eye disease (DED) is a multifactorial disease that results in discomfort, visual disturbance, and tear film instability with potential damage to the ocular surface. A pilot study was undertaken to determine if there were any major substantial differences in the ocular microbiome in DED patients versus healthy controls. Methods: The bacterial communities residing in the conjunctiva of patients with DED (n = 4) and healthy controls (n = 4) were assessed by 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing of the V4–V5 region. Results: The phyla Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes were most dominant and accounted for 97% and 94.5% of all bacterial sequences in patients and controls, respectively. At the genus level, 27 bacterial genera were found with more than two?fold difference between patients and controls. Four of these – Acinetobacter, Corynebacterium, Lactobacillus, and Pseudomonas spp. – dominated the ocular microbiome of all subjects, but were proportionately lower in DED (16.5%) compared to controls (37.7%). Several bacterial genera were found to be unique in DED (34) and controls (24). Conclusion: This pilot study is an attempt to profile the ocular microbiome in patients with DED that demonstrated a higher concentration of microbial DNA compared to controls, with Firmicutes phyla dominating the bacterial population in patients with DED.

Keywords

16S rRNA, conjunctiva, dry eye disease, ocular microbiome, ocular surface

Citation

Gupta Noopur, Chhibber-Goel Jyoti, Gupta Yogita, Mukherjee Souvik, Maitra Arindam, Sharma Amit, Tandon Radhika. Ocular conjunctival microbiome profiling in dry eye disease: A case control pilot study. Indian Journal of Ophthalmology. 2023 Apr; 71(4): 1574-1581

URI

https://imsear.searo.who.int/handle/123456789/224970

Collections

Indian Journal of Ophthalmology

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