The Skin Microbiome of Mycosis fungoides

The skin Microbiome stratifies Patients with CTCL into two subgroups. One subgroup has a balanced microbiome, while the other subgroups has a skin dybiosis with S. aureus outgrow. This is accompanied by impaired TCR repertoir and poor clinical outcome. 20 Patients with Mycosis fungoides were enrolled from two study sites in Germany (Mainz and Frankfurt am Main). From each patient, up to two samples from lesional skin were obtained. Nonlesional skin from the contralateral site of lesional samples served as controls. Whole Metagenome sequencing was performed and taxonomic profiles were generated successfully for a total of N = 65 metagenomic samples.  Moreover, in a subset of patients peripheral blood was drawn and skin punch biopsies were obtained from the same lesions. T cell receptor sequencing (TCRseq) was performed on n = 21 samples.