William H. McCoy IV, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Dermatology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and his team have identified an important way that one type of acne-causing bacteria thrives on human skin.
Cutibacterium acnes requires a protein called RoxP to colonize the skin, and the researchers designed a test to detect this protein that clinicians can use as a tool to confirm whether a C. acnes infection is present. Such a test also could be useful for identifying whether C. acnes has infected joint prostheses and other medical devices, an emerging clinical problem.
The study is published online in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. Read more on the Division of Dermatology webpage.
