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REVIEW article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Inflammation
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1502242

Significance of host antimicrobial peptides in the pathogenesis and treatment of acne vulgaris

Provisionally accepted
Agata Lesiak Agata Lesiak 1Paulina Paprocka Paulina Paprocka 1Urszula Wnorowska Urszula Wnorowska 2Angelika Mańkowska Angelika Mańkowska 1Grzegorz Król Grzegorz Król 1Katarzyna Głuszek Katarzyna Głuszek 1Ewelina Piktel Ewelina Piktel 2Jakub Spałek Jakub Spałek 1Sławomir Okła Sławomir Okła 1Krzysztof Fiedoruk Krzysztof Fiedoruk 2Bonita Durnaś Bonita Durnaś 3Robert Bucki Robert Bucki 2*
  • 1 Institute of Medical Science, Collegium Medicum, Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, Kielce, Poland
  • 2 Department of Medical Microbiology and Nanobiomedical Engineering, Medical University of Białystok, Białystok, Poland, Białystok, Poland
  • 3 Institute of Health Science, Collegium Medicum, Jan Kochanowski University of Kielce, Kielce, Poland, Kielce, Świętokrzyskie, Poland

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Acne vulgaris (AV) is a chronic inflammatory condition of the pilosebaceous units characterized by multiple immunologic, metabolic, hormonal, genetic, psycho-emotional dysfunctions, and skin microbiota dysbiosis. The latter is manifested by a decreased population (phylotypes, i.e., genetically distinct bacterial subgroups that play different roles in skin health and disease) diversity of the predominant skin bacterial commensal -Cutinbacterium acnes. Like in other dysbiotic disorders, an elevated expression of endogenous antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) is a hallmark of AV. AMPs, such as human β-defensins, cathelicidin LL-37, dermcidin, or RNase-7, due to their antibacterial and immunomodulatory properties, function as the first line of defense and coordinate the host-microbiota interactions. Therefore, AMPs are potential candidates for pharmaceutical prophylaxis or treating this condition. This study outlines the current knowledge regarding the importance of AMPs in AV pathomechanism in light of recent transcriptomic studies. In particular, their role in improving the tight junctions (TJs) skin barrier by activating the fundamental cellular proteins, such as PI3K, GSK-3, aPKC, and Rac1, is discussed. We hypothesized that the increased expression of AMPs and their patterns in AV act as a compensatory mechanism to protect the skin with an impaired permeability barrier. Therefore, AMPs could be key determinants in regulating AV development and progression, linking acne-associated immune responses and metabolic factors, like insulin/IGF-1 and PI3K/Akt/mTOR/FoxO1 signaling pathways or glucotoxicity. Research and development of anti-acne AMPs are also addressed.

    Keywords: Cutibacterium acnes, Acne Vulgaris, antimicrobial peptides, skin dysbiosis, Inflammation

    Received: 26 Sep 2024; Accepted: 02 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Lesiak, Paprocka, Wnorowska, Mańkowska, Król, Głuszek, Piktel, Spałek, Okła, Fiedoruk, Durnaś and Bucki. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Robert Bucki, Department of Medical Microbiology and Nanobiomedical Engineering, Medical University of Białystok, Białystok, Poland, Białystok, Poland

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.