Anti-cancer protein developed melanoma treatment applied to skin...There are no side effects such as psoriasis

Mar 05, 2025

Comparative data of peptide-ConA complex (blue) showing superior melanoma treatment ability compared to Aldara cream (green), an approved drug in animal experiments, and did not cause psoriasis, which is a side effect of existing drugs, during the treatment process. Data provision = Credit:/td>

A research team led by Professor Jung Woo-jin of Inha University's Department of Biotechnology has developed a melanoma treatment that uses skin-permeable peptides to apply the anticancer protein Concanavalin A (ConA) to the skin.

ConA is a natural substance that can be easily extracted from pea. It is considered a candidate substance for anticancer drugs with high commercialization potential because the production cost is significantly lower than that of existing antibody-based biological treatments. However, clinical use has been limited due to high hepatotoxicity.

The skin-permeable peptide is a bio-derived substance with anti-inflammatory and antistatic functions beyond the role of a simple carrier. When treating melanoma, it showed an adjuvant anticancer effect without side effects.

The research team minimized side effects and maximized treatment efficacy by using ConA transdermal penetration using skin-permeable peptides. Experiments have shown that the conventional intravenous method of ConA has solved the difficulty of hepatotoxicity.

In addition, compared to Imiquimod, an FDA-approved drug previously used for the same purpose, the newly developed transdermal penetration treatment using ConA showed far superior anticancer efficacy, and side effects such as psoriasis that are common in Imiquimod were not identified.

The research team expects that due to the nature of the transdermal penetration method, it will create synergy with combination therapy with blood-administered anticancer drugs in terms of drug administration routes, and be effective in drug resistance and cost reduction.

The results of this study are expected to be used as important basic data for research on transdermal material delivery in various fields in the future.

Professor Jung Woo-jin of the Department of Biotechnology at Inha University said, "This study is significant in that ConA's transdermal delivery suggests the possibility of overcoming the limitations such as low efficacy and side effects of existing treatments. We plan to review the applicability of other carcinomas in the future and study the scalability of the skin-permeable peptide-based drug delivery system for various skin-related diseases such as hair loss and atopy."

Meanwhile, this study was carried out with support from the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Research Foundation's excellent emerging research projects, basic laboratory projects, bio and medical technology development projects, and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's industrial core technology development projects. The research result paper was published in the latest issue of the international renowned academic journal 'Advanced Functional Materials'.