breaking latest news – Devising an innovative approach to combat the signs of aging in a safer and more effective way than current alternatives. This is the objective towards which a study, published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, conducted by the scientists of the Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School and the University of Texas. The team, led by Betty Kim, has created an anti-wrinkle skin patch that injects messenger RNA through micro-needles.
The researchers used a mouse model to evaluate the efficacy and safety of this approach. Wrinkles, experts explain, are caused by the deterioration of collagen fibers, a protein very present in the cells of the epidermis. Caused in part by exposure to ultraviolet rays, these signs of aging are very difficult to counteract. Messenger RNA helps instruct the body’s cells to produce collagen.
Researchers have used 12 mice, divided into three groups: some, after being exposed to UV radiation for 60 days, were assigned to standard treatment with retinoids, used in skin care, or to the administration of mRNA. The last four specimens, belonging to the control group, had not been exposed to ultraviolet light. According to what emerges from the investigation, after 28 days, the skin of the animals that had received the mRNA was similar to that of mice in the control group, while the animals treated with retinoids showed about twice as many wrinkles as the others.
After 56 days, the effect tended to fade and wrinkles returned to the levels seen before the treatment. With the skin patchinstead, the effectiveness of the treatment seemed to be prolonged about twice as long. “The mRNA – comments Nicholas Gulati of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York – is currently packaged in vectors called lipid nanoparticles, which can trigger an overactive immune response, with the risk of inflammation or anaphylaxis. The extracellular vesicles, instead, they don’t induce such problems, because they occur naturally in the body. The possible applications of this technology are endless.”
“Our approach – concludes Kim – could be used not only for the care and rejuvenation of the skin, but also for the treatment of genetic diseases, tumors and other conditions such as osteoarthritis. The extracellular vesicles could also cross the blood barrier brain tumor, which prevents pathogens and many drugs from reaching the brain, so our work could pave the way for the development of therapies to treat brain tumors.”