New vaccine to offer treatment for acne

People suffering from acne could have a new treatment option in the future, as researchers are exploring a potential vaccine that targets toxins produced by acne-causing bacteria.

Unlike conventional vaccines that target invading pathogens, the proposed vaccine would target bacteria already present on human skin.

Researchers found that antibodies against a toxin produced by bacteria associated with acne vulgaris could reduce inflammation in human acne lesions.

"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," said lead investigator Chun-Ming Huang of the University of California-San Diego in the US.

The researchers said an acne vaccine could potentially avoid some of the adverse effects associated with current treatments, including topical or systemic retinoids and antibiotics.

The study focused on Christie-Atkins-Munch-Peterson (CAMP) factor, a toxin produced by Propionibacterium acnes, a bacterium associated with acne. The researchers found that the toxin can trigger inflammatory responses.

Published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, the study examined whether antibodies could be used to neutralise the toxin and reduce inflammation. Experiments were conducted in mice and in human skin samples outside the body.

The researchers found that applying monoclonal antibodies targeting CAMP 2 reduced the inflammatory response.

However, the scientists cautioned that any future acne immunotherapy would need to be carefully designed to avoid disrupting the skin's microbiome, which plays an important role in maintaining healthy skin.

"While addressing an unmet medical need and providing an appealing approach, acne immunotherapies that target P. acnes-derived factors have to be cautiously designed to avoid unwanted disturbance of the microbiome that guarantees skin homeostasis," said Emmanuel Contassot of the University of Zurich in Switzerland.

The researchers said future studies would focus on developing a non-toxic chemical or targeted vaccine formulation suitable for potential use in humans.