Topical antimicrobial peptides in combined treatment of acne patients

Acne vulgaris (AV) is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the pilosebaceous unit that affects over 80% of adolescents and young adults. This study aimed to compare the therapeutic efficacy and tolerability of an isotretinoin treatment course with GDP-20 (granulysin-derived peptides) versus the conventional isotretinoin monotherapy prescribed to patients with mild-to-moderate acne.

Our study included 60 Russian subjects affected with AV of mild-to-moderate severity divided into two therapeutic groups. Half of the patients were female; mean age was 19.5 ± 5.6 years. Group 1 was treated with topical GDP-20 twice daily to the affected skin of the face combined with systemic isotretinoin in a fixed low dose of 0.3 mg/kg/day. Group 2 was treated with systemic isotretinoin as a monotherapy.

The assessment of the changes of AV lesion count on the 12th week of the treatment showed that in Group 1, the mean value of open comedo number reduced from 21.4 ± 6.1 at day 0 to 4.4 ± 2.5 (p < 0.05), the mean number of closed comedo reduced from 7.6 ± 3.5 to 2.4 ± 1.05 (p < 0.05), and those of papules-pustules reduced from 6.1 ± 1.03 to 1.4 ± 0.2 (p < 0.05).

Topical antimicrobial peptides (GDP-20) combined with low doses of systemic isotretinoin mild-to-moderate resulted in considerable improvement of clinical manifestations of mild-to-moderate AV and threefold reduction in the disease severity with IGA score 0-1 after 12 weeks. Topical application of GDP-20 antimicrobial peptides can improve the efficacy of low-dose systemic isotretinoin in combined treatment of mild-to-moderate AV.