A nucleic acid-based medication for allergic skin diseases

Among allergic skin diseases, atopic dermatitis is the most difficult to cure. In the majority of patients, atopic dermatitis can be easily controlled by treatment based on three therapeutic approaches: avoidance of precipitating factors, skin care, and medication. In some adult patients, however, severe atopic dermatitis is refractory to treatment, and no fundamental effective treatment modality has yet been established for such cases. Chronic contact dermatitis without an identified causative hapten is also considered an allergic skin disease that is difficult to cure. Topical nucleic acid-based medications are currently being applied clinically, and an ointment containing nuclear factor-κB decoy oligodeoxynucleotides (hereafter referred to as Decoy) has reached clinical trials. In addition, synthetic double-stranded DNA with high affinity for signal transducers and activators of transcription 6 (STAT6) introduced in vivo as a decoy cis element to bind the transcriptional factor and block the activated gene that contributes to the onset and progression of atopic dermatitis functions as an effective therapeutic agent. We also introduce another STAT1 decoy treatment, cytosine-phosphate-guanine-ODN or STAT6 small interfering RNA therapy, for allergic skin diseases.