Vaseline, a known molecule from apples and a gene network encapsulated in algal gelatin are the components of a possible gene therapy which literally gets under the skin.

“An apple a day keeps the doctor away”. This English proverb now has a new meaning. Marc Gitzinger from the research group of Martin Fussenegger, Professor of Biotechnology and Bioengineering Science in the Department of Biosystems (D-BSSE) in Basle, has developed a prototype for gene therapy through the skin.

The researchers have presented their new therapeutic approach online in the current edition of PNAS.

Capsules and cream

The method of administration sounds very simple: first implant a capsule with a particular gene under the skin and then apply skin cream in order to stimulate the gene into action, which finally expresses an active principle which is able to escape from the capsule in a precise dose.

Fussenegger’s group has managed to do something which sounds like science fiction. The researchers have produced alginate capsules with living cells containing a specially designed genetic network.

This network produces the protein SEAP. The capsules were implanted under the skin of test mice which were then coated with an ointment. This skin cream consists of commercial milk fat mixed with phloretin according to a particular formula.

And it worked. Phloretin penetrated the skin, the gel capsules and the cells contained within. As hoped for by the researchers, the antioxidant from the apples reduced the production of protein. With a large dose of phloretin in the cream, the production of SEAP could be stopped altogether.

“When developing the principle we had no particular clinical picture in mind”, emphasised the ETH professor. “We were concentrating on the route of administration through the skin”. A genetic network such as this can also be designed in such a way that when activated correctly, insulin or growth factors are produced.

The researcher can imagine that certain metabolic diseases might be treatable by this method. The D-BSSE scientists have already had the method patented and hope that the pharmaceutical industry will be interested in further developing this principle.

"New way to gene therapy: first implant a capsule with a particular gene under the skin, apply skin cream in order to stimulate the gene into action, which expresses an active principle which is able to escape from the capsule. (Credit: P. Rüegg/ ETH Zürich)"

Source: ETH Zurich