Acne is not just an embarrassment to teenagers, it's an annoying problem that almost everyone faces in their lives, and in some cases can even become serious. Now, scientists have demonstrated an intriguing new way to fight acne by engineering bacteria that live on the skin to produce the proteins found in acne drugs.
Acne is caused when hair follicles become clogged with dead skin cells and oil, which then become inflamed, resulting in the all-too-familiar pimples, pimples and whiteheads. When trying not to pop them, we can treat them with drugs that kill oil-producing cells or antibiotics that target the bacteria in the hair follicles. More recent experimental studies include acne vaccines, probiotics or microneedle patches, which all attack disease-causing bacteria.
But what if we could make these bacteria work for us? In the new study, scientists at Spain's University of Pompeu Fabra (UPF) investigated how skin bacteria can be engineered to produce active ingredients in acne drugs. They targeted Propionibacterium acnes, the most common species of bacteria on the skin and one that lives deep in hair follicles.
Overproduction of an oil called sebum is a common cause of acne, and many acne medications like isotretinoin work by killing the cells that produce sebum. In this case, P. acnes was engineered to produce a protein called NGAL, which mediates the naturally produced isotretinoin.
The team tested the edited bacterium in human skin cells grown in the lab and found that it was able to produce and secrete NGAL, reducing sebum production. The bacteria also survived and worked in tests on mice, but because mice's skin is so different from ours, its effects on acne couldn't be tested this way.
Not only does this technology help clear up acne, it also reduces reliance on antibiotics, which are increasingly causing bacteria to become resistant. The researchers say that while more work is needed, including first trying it on a three-dimensional skin model, before this technique can be used in human trials, it could also be used to treat other skin conditions. The first is atopic dermatitis.
Marc Güell, lead researcher on the study, said: "We have developed a technology platform that opens the door to editing any bacterium to treat a variety of diseases. The focus now is on using P. acnes to treat acne, but we can also provide genetic circuits to create smart microorganisms for applications related to skin sensing or immune regulation."
The research was published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.