The gut-eye-lacrimal gland-microbiome axis in Sjögren Syndrome

Abstract

The bacterial communities that collectively inhabit our body are called the microbiome. Virtually all body surface harbors bacteria. Recent advances in next-generation sequencing that have provided insight into the diversity, composition of bacterial communities, and their interaction are discussed in this review, as well as the current knowledge of how the microbiome promotes ocular health. The ocular surface is a site of low bacterial load. Sjögren Syndrome is an autoimmune disease that affects the exocrine glands, causing dry mouth and dry eye. Systemic antibiotic treatment and germ-free mice have demonstrated that commensal bacteria have a protective role for the ocular surface and lacrimal gland. The existence of a gut-eye-lacrimal gland axis-microbiome is discussed.

Keywords: Dysbiosis; Microbiome; Sjögren syndrome; dry eye; dry mouth.

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations of interest: Baylor College of Medicine has filed a patent related to some of the points in this review.

Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Figures

Figure 1:

Proposed gut-ocular surface-lacrimal gland-microbiome axis.

Fig. 2:

Principal component analysis showing B diversity in intestinal microbiome from SS patients and subjects from the Human Microbiome Project [56].