In a pioneering development in the field of anti-acne treatments, a team of researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine has created an acne vaccine that successfully reduced inflammation in a mouse model of acne.
The vaccine neutralizes a specific strain of enzyme produced by bacteria associated with acne, leaving the healthy bacterial enzyme intact.
Approximately 70 to 80% of individuals develop acne at some point in their lives, most often during adolescence, and the cause is due to multiple factors: genetic, environmental and bacterial.
With this new work, scientists are now one step closer to helping dramatically reduce the severity of this common condition with a more precise and less disruptive treatment than is currently available.
Professor George Way said. “We're developing a more tailored treatment because of what we know exactly about what causes acne, rather than just preventing inflammation in general,” Liu is a professor and chief of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. “We hope that by understanding how bacteria trigger acne, we can come up with a single vaccine or combination that will take care of acne much more effectively than what is available now,” he adds.
This research began with an attempt to answer a long-standing question regarding a type of bacteria associated with acne called Propionibacterium acnes, which is abundant on everyone's skin: If we all have this type of bacteria on the surface of our skin, why do we have it? Only some people get acne?
In a paper, published in the journal Nature Communications, researchers identified two different types of hyaluronidase, an enzyme produced by the bacteria Propionibacterium acne. One variant of this enzyme, called HylA, is made by the bacteria Propionibacterium acnes associated with acne. The other type of enzyme, HylB, is made by the bacterium Propionibacterium acnes associated with healthy skin.
Examining the structural and genetic differences between the two enzyme strains, the team found that while the HylA type aggravates acne by causing inflammation, the HylB type appears to reduce inflammation and promote healthy skin. Their work also revealed that HylA and HylB originate from a common ancestor but evolved to have divergent effects.
In particular, the researchers investigated differences in the way the two variants break down hyaluronic acid in the skin, revealing that HylA produces larger fragments of hyaluronic acid, leading to a more robust inflammatory response, while HylB produces smaller anti-inflammatory fragments.
When the researchers genetically removed hyaluronidase from both health-associated acne and acne bacteria, the bacteria became non-inflammatory.
Based on this newfound knowledge, the team then developed therapeutic approaches, including a vaccine and inhibitors, that targeted HylA, the acne-causing variant, and successfully reduced inflammation, said Liu, one of the paper's senior authors. The study indicates the importance of understanding the genetic factors of acne to inform the development of targeted acne treatments.
According to researcher Maria Lázaro Diez, one of the five main authors of the paper, this new approach could benefit a large number of acne patients, for which no specific treatment of its kind is available yet.
“One of the main strengths of this work was the interdisciplinarity and diversity of the team, working together to achieve two common goals: expanding knowledge about the etiology of acne and using it as an approach to treating acne,” Lázaro Diez said.
As researchers move forward with fine-tuning the use of selective HylA inhibitors and vaccines to treat acne, they are encouraged by this initial success and hope to create a product that could change the lives of many individuals who suffer from or are at risk of developing acne.
“Our targeted approach to combating acne has the potential to revolutionize acne treatments by offering more targeted treatments,” said Irshad Hajim, one of the lead authors of the study.
“What's really remarkable about this work is that we can now have more targeted and effective treatments to combat acne while maintaining a healthy skin microbiome. This is a major advance in treating acne,” he added.
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