It's happened to all of us: the inadvertent raging sunburn incurred on one especially fun day at the beach; the slapdash SPF application that resulted in a weird handprint or a spray of new freckles; the moment of looking in the mirror and wondering how many fewer lines we'd see if we'd never set foot outdoors without sunscreen.
Now imagine this: a substance that, when smoothed over sun-damaged skin, reverses the effects of UV exposure, potentially preventing the development of skin cancer as well as nixing the signs of UV-related aging (brown spots, wrinkles, sagginess) before they even begin. It sounds like science fiction—but it might actually already be in the algae-based serum or vitamin-B cream in your bathroom cabinet. Meet the new must-know skin rejuvenator: DNA repair enzymes.
Picture DNA's familiar double helix structure as a spiral staircase: When assaulted by UV exposure and the free radicals produced by environmental factors such as pollution, the stairs can warp and break. These impairments impede the functions of the cell, and can ultimately cause the mutations that lead to cancer. For a long time, our first line of defense against this process—after sunscreen, of course—has been antioxidants, the helpful molecules that scavenge free radicals. Even the most potent antioxidants, however, can only deflect damage—they can't heal it once it has already occurred. "Antioxidants work by blocking the effects of reactive molecules in the cells," dermatologist Macrene Alexiades-Armenakas, MD, PhD, says. "In contrast, DNA repair enzymes literally cut out the damaged DNA, like scissors, and put in fresh, clean bases, correcting the sequence."
Our skin does have a toolbox of naturally occurring enzymes to fix damaged DNA. But as we age, the levels of these enzymes drop. It's as though someone misplaced the hammer—the repairs get less effective, and the wear and tear begins to add up. Now, however, help is at hand: A new class of ingredients—featuring enzymes extracted from various natural sources (including a mustard green, plankton, and a type of bacteria called micrococcus) and encapsulated in liposomes to facilitate absorption into the epidermis—have been shown to supplement and bolster this DNA repair capacity, resulting in healthier, more resilient skin.
"I always tell my patients that when it comes to sun damage, you can't undo what's been done," says Joshua Zeichner, MD, an assistant professor of dermatology at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital. "You can improve it a bit with traditional topical treatments like retinoids, growth factors, and peptides. They all help promote collagen growth and healthy cell development, but they have not been shown to help reverse DNA damage. Now, for the first time, there may be ingredients that truly turn back the hands of time."
The stats are impressive: In an early study, published in the medical journal Lancet in 2001, scientists tested a DNA repair enzyme lotion on 30 patients suffering from a rare hereditary defect that predisposed them to skin cancer. After one year, the development of actinic keratosis—the most common skin precancer—decreased by 68 percent, and the development of basal cell carcinomas dropped by 30 percent. A 2008 study published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology showed that a moisturizer with DNA repair enzymes prevented the immune suppression in skin cells that typically occurs after UV exposure, and in a 2013 study published in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology, human skin biopsies taken 24 hours after UV irradiation showed that DNA repair enzymes completely prevented the degradation of chromosome-capping telomeres, which has been linked to many age-related diseases.
"These enzymes not only help prevent precancers, they also prevent brown spots and help thicken skin by inhibiting the development of collagenase, the protein that degrades collagen," says Ronald Moy, MD, senior vice president of the Skin Cancer Foundation and a former president of the American Academy of Dermatology. "It's very exciting."
In addition to providing this roster of long-term benefits, DNA repair enzymes also act almost immediately to mitigate the effects of sun exposure. "They work incredibly fast—within an hour," says Moy, who based his line of skin-care products, DNAEGF Renewal DNA Intensive Renewal, around a combination of repair enzymes and plant-derived epidermal growth factors. "If you were to go into a tanning bed right now, which would be a very bad thing to do, the cross-links in your skin's DNA would get damaged. The natural enzymes in your cells would repair them to some extent, but not fully. So the best thing you could do would be to apply DNA repair enzymes to the skin. They would match the amino acids and put those cross-links back together."
Just to be clear, however: These repair enzymes are not the complexion equivalent of the morning-after pill. There are actually two types of DNA governing the health of our skin: the DNA in the cell's nucleus, which can be rebuilt with repair enzymes, and the DNA in the cell's mitochondria, which cannot. Both must be protected in order for the skin to function at its absolute best. "One thing they have in common," says Frauke Neuser, PhD, principal scientist at P&G Beauty, "is that it's much easier to try and prevent the damage from happening in the first place than to try to repair it."
When mitochondrial DNA is harmed—again, the culprit is usually the sun—the cell's energy metabolism is crippled. "Everything your skin does needs energy," Neuser says, "so having lower cell energy means collagen production will be slower, as will elastin and natural antioxidant production. It will actually accelerate the signs of aging." And while there's nothing that will erase damage to mitochondrial DNA, a topical ingredient such as niacinamide—a biologically active form of B3 found in the Olay ProX and Regenerist lines, among others—can essentially act as a cheerleader for the cells' energy levels. Increased energy levels, in turn, might increase the likelihood that your nuclear DNA will be able to muster a plentiful amount of its own natural repair enzymes. It's all connected.
DNA repair enzymes may be a game changer when it comes to preventing skin cancer (particularly by reversing actinic keratosis, which previously could be treated only with aggressive laser treatments, prescription creams, or chemical peels), and they will almost certainly provide an extra level of age-defying oomph to anyone's skin-care regimen by enhancing collagen and preventing hyperpigmentation. Still, they should be considered a potent addition to your arsenal rather than a magic bullet. "Unfortunately, there isn't just one thing that will do the whole job," Neuser says. "You need to put together multiple ingredients to get the right protection and efficacy."
"Think of it this way," Zeichner says. "Antioxidants are like fire extinguishers. They put out the fires caused by UV light or pollution, which lead to inflammation in the skin and ultimately to DNA damage. And then DNA repair ingredients are like getting a good contractor in to rebuild any structural harm that still occurs. But as great as they are, there's still nothing better than primary prevention with a good sunscreen."
1. Dr. Mac 37 Extreme Actives High-Performance Anti-Aging Cream contains extracts of blue algae, micrococcus, and arabidopsis. $195; drmacrene.com
2. Neova DNA Total Repair accelerates the body's ability to recover from sun damage with three types of enzymes. $99; neova.com
3. RM DNA Renewal DNA Intensive Renewal diminishes UV-induced signs of aging; dermstore.com
4. Elizabeth Arden RX Triple Protection Factor Broad Spectrum SPF 50+ combines DNA repair enzymes, including light-activated photolyase, with an antioxidant complex; applied daily under sunscreen. $68; skinfo.com
5. Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Cream features niacinamide, which keeps skin cells energized, as well as potent antioxidants and collagen-building pentapeptides. $24; target.com
6. The Alguronic Acid in Algenist Concentrated Reconstructing Serum has been clinically proven to prevent DNA changes resulting from UV exposure. $95; sephora.com
This article appears in the February 2015 issue of ELLE magazine.