Abstract
An enzyme borrowed from ocean plankton can reverse some of the most harmful effects of exposing skin to ultraviolet radiation, research dermatologists in Germany report. When healthy volunteers applied a lotion containing the enzyme to their skin after exposure to high-energy UV-B radiation and then exposed the treated skin to lower energy UV-A light, the enzyme quickly repaired a substantial amount of the photochemical damage that had occurred in the DNA of skin cells [ Proc. Nat Acad. Set. USA , 97 , 1790 (2000)]. The treatment also blocked the suppression of the immune system that would normally follow this damage. That suppression is thought to be an essential link in the chain of events that can cause cancer in skin repeatedly exposed to UV light. The liposome-encapsulated photolyase used in the experiment by Jean Krutmann, head of the clinical and experimental photodermatology program at Heinrich Heine University, Dusseldorf; dermatology resident Helger Stege; and their colleagues is already ...
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