New insights into the causes of skin itching: scientists prove for the first time that Staphylococcus aureus causes

CTOnews.com, Nov. 24-scientists at Harvard Medical School have shown for the first time that Staphylococcus aureus, a common skin bacterium, can directly act on nerve cells and cause itching, the results are published in the November 22 issue of the journal Cell.

The study adds new puzzles to long-standing itching problems and helps doctors and scholars understand why common skin diseases such as eczema and atopic dermatitis are often accompanied by persistent itching.

The current industry consensus is that itching caused by eczema and atopic dermatitis is usually thought to be caused by skin inflammation. However, new research shows that patients with eczema and atopic dermatitis often lose their microbial balance, leading to the "savage" growth of Staphylococcus aureus, which eventually leads to the urge to scratch.

Isaac Chiu, senior author and associate professor of immunology at the HMS Blavatnik Institute, said: "We have identified a new mechanism behind itching-Staphylococcus aureus, which is found in almost every patient with chronic atopic dermatitis. We suggest that itching may be caused by the microbes themselves.

CTOnews.com attached the reference address of the paper: Liwen Deng, Flavia Costa, Kimbria J. Blake, Samantha Choi, Arundhasa Chandrabalan, Muhammad Saad Yousuf, Stephanie Shiers, Daniel Dubreuil, Daniela Vega-Mendoza, Corinne Rolland, Celine Deraison, Tiphaine Voisin, Michelle D. Bagood, Lucia Wesemann, Abigail M Frey, Joseph S. Palumbo, Brian J. Wainger, Richard L. Gallo, Juan-Manuel Leyva-Castillo, Nathalie Vergnolle, Theodore J. Price, Rithwik Ramachandran, Alexander R. Horswill, Isaac M. Chiu. S. Aureus drives itch and scratch-induced skin damage through a V8 protease-PAR1 axis. Cell, 2023; 186 (24): 5375 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.10.019