• Can Acne Be Prevented?

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Can Acne Be Prevented?

Sep 16 2018

In a breakthrough that has the dermatology industry buzzing, an international team of researchers has moved one step closer to developing an acne vaccine, which could change the lives of an estimated 80% of people who suffer from acne at some point in their lives.

The series of experiments targeted tissue samples extracted from both humans and mice, with the scientists successfully using lab-created antibodies to fight off toxins produced by a bacterium known as P. acnes, which triggers the inflammatory response responsible for cysts and lesions.

Scientists develop acne vaccine

Researchers are now in the process of moving forward with clinical trials, which could offer exciting new treatment options for acne sufferers who are currently limited to topical medications or oral drugs with undesirable side effects.

"Once validated by a large-scale clinical trial, the potential impact of our findings is huge for the hundreds of millions of individuals suffering from acne vulgaris," asserts Chun-Ming Huang, lead investigator of the study. "Current treatment options are often not effective or tolerable for many of the 85% of adolescents and more than 40 million adults in the United States who suffer from this multi-factorial cutaneous inflammatory condition. New, safe, and efficient therapies are sorely needed."

Switching off inflammation signals

Also known as CAMP factor, the toxic protein secreted by P. acnes creates an inflammation path that can cause serious skin imperfections. The study was published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology and aimed to sanction CAMP factor as a major cause of inflammatory acne and explore the potential of a vaccine as a cure. When trialled on mice, a monoclonal antibody vaccine against CAMP factor significantly reduced the growth of the bacteria and hindered the expression of interleukin 8 (IL-8), an inflammatory signalling molecule.

The team followed up with tissue samples extracted from human patients and observed that when treated with CAMP factor antibodies, IL-8 molecules were noticeably less active, which supports the core theory that P. acnes CAMP factor is a major cause of the inflammation associated with acne vulgaris.

Targeting infections, cancer and other P. acnes diseases

Armed with an effective antigen, Huang and his team are now in the process of developing a human-friendly formulation. Eventually, they predict that a CAMP factor vaccine could be used to treat other P. acnes-associated diseases like heart and bone infections, prostate cancers, toxic shock syndrome and sepsis.

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