ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microorganisms in Vertebrate Digestive Systems
This article is part of the Research TopicDynamics of the Human Skin MicrobiotaView all 15 articles
Gut and Skin Microbial Dysbiosis Correlate with Systemic Inflammation in Pruritus in Immunological Non-responsiveness People Living with HIV
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of the First Clinical Medical College, Henan University of Chinese medicine, Zhengzhou, China
- 2Department of Medical, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, China
- 3Department of AIDS Clinical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, China
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Introduction: Among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLWH), those who exhibit immunological non-responsiveness (INR) are highly susceptible to developing pruritus. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships among pruritus, alteration of the gut and skin microbiomes, and systemic inflammation in PLWH with INR. Methods: Thirty-three PLWH with INR were enrolled and divided into Pruritus (n=18) and Control (n=15) groups. All participants met the defining criterion of a low CD4+ T cell count (≤350 cells/μL). We performed 16S rRNA gene sequencing of fecal and skin samples, and measured plasma IL-1β and IL-10 levels. Results: Microbiome analysis revealed specific, bidirectional patterns of microbial dysbiosis. Specifically, the skin microbiome of the Pruritus Group exhibited significantly greater microbial richness (Chao1 and Faith's Phylogenetic Diversity indices, P<0.01), coupled with significantly lower representation of the potentially protective genus Bacillus (adjusted P<0.05), compared with that of the INR Control Group. Conversely, the gut microbiome of the Pruritus Group exhibited significantly lower alpha diversity (adjusted P<0.05). Furthermore, we identified a significant positive correlation between levels of plasma pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-1β and the relative abundance of the opportunistic gut genus Veillonella (adjusted P<0.05). Conclusions: Pruritic PLWH-INRs exhibit skin microbial hyper-richness, Bacillus depletion, and reduced gut diversity, suggesting a systemic inflammatory basis linked to gut-skin dysbiosis. These findings provide new insights into the pathological process, offering a potential foundation for future microbiome-targeted therapeutic strategies as novel management avenues.
Keywords: gutmicrobiome, Immunological non-responsiveness, Microbial dysbiosis, People living with HIV, Pruritus, Skin microbiome, systemic inflammation
Received: 02 Dec 2025; Accepted: 11 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Li, Xu, Ding, Qiu and Yue. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jingyu Yue
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