Severance Hospital said Wednesday that a three-nation research team has found the possibility of developing a cure for skin pigmentation lesions, such as post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation and age spots.
The study results will provide a clue in developing new treatments for skin beauty and whitening related to skin discoloration and pigmentation, it said.
The joint research team was led by Professor Lee Ju-hee of the Dermatology Department at Severance Hospital, Professor David E. Fisher of Harvard Medical School, and Professor Elisabeth Roider of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Basel in Switzerland.
For the first time in the world, the researchers identified how skin pigmentation is mediated by nicotinamide nucleotide transhydrogenase (NNT), an enzyme that regulates oxidation and reduction. Melanin plays a key role in determining the color of a person's skin. In addition, various existing studies have revealed that ultraviolet (UV) rays and genetic or epigenetic factors affect melanocytes to cause skin discoloration.
The recent study showed how NNT-mediated pigmentation and melanin formation happen, different from previous research that explained melanin formation and pigmentation. Researchers conducted studies with mice and zebrafish models, ex vivo studies with human skin tissue, and multi-ethnic cohort studies to find how redox metabolism interacts with skin pigmentation.
They demonstrated changes in skin color according to NNT function changes in mouse and zebrafish models. In a mouse model, administration of a small molecule inhibitor to NNTs resulted in increased pigmentation in the skin of mice with reduced NNT function. In addition, melanin pigmentation changed according to NNT level when genetic modification of NNT was induced in the zebrafish model, which has similar melanocytes to humans.
The study also included a multi-ethnic cohort meta-analysis of 462,885 people from the U.K., Latin America, and eastern and southern Africa. The analysis revealed that human skin color, tanning, and sunscreen use affected various single nucleotide polymorphisms within the NNT.
"The study showed how redox metabolism interacts with skin pigmentation by identifying the mechanism of skin pigmentation independent of the previous UV-MITF mechanism," Professor Lee said. "Based on the redox-dependent mechanism newly identified through this study, we expect NNT inhibitors to be used for cosmetic and medical purposes."
The study results were published in the latest issue of the international academic journal Cell.