ScholarWorks@중앙대학교

초록

Truncal acne significantly impairs quality of life yet remains underexplored relative to facialacne, particularly with respect to fungal ecology. The trunk represents a distinct cutaneousniche characterized by thicker epidermis, larger follicular units, and frequent occlusion, andharbors a high abundance of Malassezia species. In this study, we used internal transcribedspacer 2 (ITS2) amplicon sequencing to characterize the truncal mycobiome in patients withacne and in healthy controls and to compare fungal community features across doxycyclineexposure groups. Although serial sampling was planned, seven participants contributed asingle follow-up sample after doxycycline treatment, and only two participants contributedmultiple follow-up samples sufficient for true within-subject longitudinal analyses; therefore,most analyses represent exposure-stratified cross-sectional comparisons rather thanconfirmed temporal change. At baseline, truncal acne lesions exhibited increased fungalrichness and distinct community composition compared with controls. Acne lesions weremore frequently enriched for Malassezia globosa, whereas healthy controls were dominatedby M. sympodialis. Across doxycycline exposure groups, fungal communities remainedMalassezia-dominant with substantial inter-individual variability. Doxycycline exposure wasassociated with partial and heterogeneous differences in Malassezia species compositionwithout uniform normalization toward control profiles. Because only fungal sequencing wasperformed, bacterial–fungal interactions were inferred from prior literature and not directlymeasured. These findings indicate that truncal acne is associated with a distinct fungal communitystructure and highlight the need for integrated, longitudinal multi-omics studies toclarify treatment-associated microbial dynamics.

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