Non-invasive detection of pediatric atopic dermatitis based on fecal microbiota and metabolite profiles: a diagnostic approach

By
Junsheng Peng
Zifan Li
Wenfeng Wu
Nan Sun
Xianping Yang
Qin Liu
Hongyi Li
June 5, 2026
0 min

Frontiers In Immunology

Objective:

To characterize gut microbiota and metabolic profiles in children with mild-to-moderate atopic dermatitis (AD) versus healthy controls, and to identify potential biomarkers and mechanistic pathways involved in disease pathogenesis.

Key Findings:

Mild-moderate pediatric AD patients exhibited significantly increased gut microbial richness and distinct β-diversity compared to controls.
Bacteroidota was enriched while Actinomycetota was depleted in AD patients.
At genus level, Parabacteroides and Klebsiella increased, whereas Bifidobacterium decreased in AD.
A combined biomarker panel demonstrated promising exploratory diagnostic potential (AUC = 0.941, accuracy 84.6%).
68 differentially accumulated metabolites were identified, primarily involved in lipid metabolism and nucleotide metabolism.

Interpretation:

Remove unsupported conclusions and rephrase to reflect only the findings.

Limitations:

Results require external validation in larger independent cohorts.
Causal relationships between microbiome alterations and AD cannot be established from this study.