Reversing Sun Damage with a Lotion

After clinical trials using Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP) patients, AGI Dermatics (formerly Applied Genetics) of Long Island NY can now show how its invention, T4N5 Liposome Lotion, a DNA repair formulation, can reduce the occurrence of skin cancer.
Summer is approaching fast. Most of us are planning to head for the beach or the countryside to enjoy the sunshine. But a group of people who have the disease, Xeroderma pigmentosum, must stay out of the sun. Yet, there is hope.

After clinical trials using Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP) patients, AGI Dermatics (formerly Applied Genetics) of Long Island NY can now show how its invention, T4N5 Liposome Lotion, a DNA repair formulation, can reduce the occurrence of a common form of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma; and a pre-cancerous form of skin cancer, actinic keratosis.

Patients with Xeroderma Pigmentosum develop skin cancer in childhood because their DNA can't repair sun damage. They are the most sun-sensitive people in the world.

"When UV photons from the sun collide with a DNA molecule in someone's skin, there is an increase in the likelihood that he or she will develop skin cancer. When that person has xp, with reduced DNA repair capability, the risk is much greater" says Patrick Mannix, Vice President of the Xeroderma Pigmentosum Society in Regarding UV and the XP patient.

The lotion contains a protein called T4 endonuclease V that can repair sun damaged cells. The DNA repair enzyme, T4N5, is first absorbed by an oily substance, a liposome. Next, this oily substance can deliver the T4N5 to the skin. When it arrives at the nucleus of the cell, the T4N5 removes the sun-damaged material and thus reduces the rate of skin cancer. T4N5 supplements the missing enzyme in XP and reduces the rate at which cancers develop.

A clinical study published in the Lancet and Scientific America in 2001 reported that T4N5 reduced the occurrence of the most common form of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma, by 30% and reduced a pre-cancerous form of skin cancer, actinic keratosis, by 68%.

The drug is still in the experimental phase, but Daniel Yarosh, president of AGI Dermatics of Freeport, N.Y., hopes to receive FDA approval for XP patients and then for those with sunburn or other sun damage.

About the Author

Diana Clarke is a California credentialed teacher and freelance writer. Her sun protection articles have appeared in publications, such as the San Jose Mercury News, Saratoga News and a high school health magazine, Listen Magazine