Moving towards natural products
THE 2017 Global Burden of Disease Study reported that fungal diseases, including Tinea capitis (scalp ringworm), rank the highest in prevalence and incidence. The second highest is dermatitis, while Sarcoptes scabiei – a mite known to cause scabies, is the third common cause of skin disease.
The prevalence of skin diseases may vary depending on age, geographic areas and ethnic groups.
Topical corticosteroids are the primary treatment option for many human skin diseases, however there are potentially local and systemic adverse effects. Local side effects are more common.
Prolonged exposure to steroids causes skin thinning, known as steroid-induced skin atrophy, which becomes irreversible when topical corticosteroids are used for an extended period. Topical corticosteroids can also cause ulceration, easy bruising, bacterial infection and delayed wound healing.
“For systemic adverse effects, topical corticosteroids may cause damage also to the ocular, endocrine, metabolic, musculoskeletal, immune function and neuropsychiatric systems, but only if an adequate amount of drug is in the systemic circulation for a prolonged period,” says Dr Goh Bey Hing, Biofunctional Molecule Exploratory (BMEX) Research Group leader from Monash University Malaysia School of Pharmacy.
These effects may be why patients are seeking alternatives in natural remedies for skin diseases.
“In Monash Malaysia, we are delving deep into natural remedies to understand better why they are effective, how they are exerting their observable effects and what we could learn and leverage on for the development of future applications,” stated Goh.
“Most skin inflammation starts when a patient scratches and induces mechanical trauma. The skin then produces inflammatory markers – cytokines and chemokines, which instigate the infiltration and activation of various types of white blood cells in the skin.
“In cases such as atopic dermatitis, viruses, bacteria and fungi take advantage of the lack of anti-microbial proteins and colonise the skin. These invaders also produce inflammatory markers, causing even more white blood cells to infiltrate and be activated in the skin. This amplifies the inflammation, causing discomfort to the patient who then scratches and induces further mechanical trauma,” Goh explained.
Natural products such as aloe vera have anti-inflammatory
and anti-bacterial properties.
When tested against microbial growth, aloe vera gel was reported to be able to prevent the growth of several skin bacteria.
Another study indicated that aloe vera was able to reduce redness of the skin after being exposed to UV rays. This suggests it could be a potential treatment to reduce the inflammation on the skin and ease the discomfort of inflammatory skin diseases.
In recent years, innovative breakthroughs in bioinformatics, genetic sequencing and analytical equipment have contributed much to the advancement of omics technologies – a holistic study of the molecules of a specific biological sample in a non-targeted and non-biased fashion. The technology platform of genomics, proteomics and metabolomics are high-throughput technologies.
“Omics technologies do not only contribute to furthering our knowledge on the disease itself, but can also improve our understanding of the impact of natural product or active pure compound on skin diseases,” says Goh.
The BMEX research group, led by Goh, is expanding further the search horizon for potential cosmeceutical bioactive ingredients covering from plants to microbes and algae as a potential source. Part of the initiatives is being supported by the School of Pharmacy and partially funded by the Global Asia in the 21st century (GA21) Multidisciplinary Platform.
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It is looking for early career researchers to join its research teams, which include some of the world’s leading researchers. The university can help you reach your goals and beyond with its rewarding Post Doctoral Fellowship Scheme.
Find out more at https://www.monash.edu.my/postdoc