When acne-causing bacteria strike, the immune system can fight back by transforming some of the surrounding cells into fat cells that emit antimicrobials, finds a study published February 16 in Science Translational Medicine. The scientists behind the project say the revelation could lead to new, targeted treatments.
Cutibacterium acnes typically causes pimples after it infects a hair follicle, feasts on trapped debris, and triggers inflammation by releasing digestive enzymes that damage nearby cells. However, the researchers discovered that C. acnes infections can trigger adipogenesis—the transformation of cells into fat cells, or adipocytes—in skin cells called fibroblasts surrounding an infected hair follicle. While the lipids these cells begin to store can aid the development of lesions—or more colloquially, pimples—the data also suggest that adipogenesis triggers increased expression of the gene CAMP, which codes for an antimicrobial peptide called cathelicidin that helps curb the bacterial infection.
The finding that fibroblasts transform to ...
