Method for treating UV-induced suppression of contact hypersensitivity by administration of T4 endonuclease

Abstract

Exposing the skin to UV radiation interferes with the induction of the T-cell mediated immune response, including both delayed (DHS) and contact (CHS) hyper-sensitivity immune responses initiated at non-irradiated sites. The present inventors have discovered that DNA is at least one of the targets for UV-induced hypersensitivity, and demonstrate that the application of DNA repair enzymes can reverse the damaging effects of UV irradiation on both the DHS and CHS response. The usefulness of the invention in this regard was tested using a model immunosuppression system in mice. In these studies, mice were first exposed to UV radiation and then liposomes were used to deliver a dimer-specific excision repair enzyme to their epidermis in situ. The application of liposomal T4 endonuclease V encapsulated to the UV-irradiated skin both decreased the number of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers in the epidermis and prevented suppression of both delayed and contact hypersensitivity responses. Moreover, the formation of suppressor lymphoid cells was inhibited. These studies illustrate that the delivery of lesion-specific DNA repair enzymes to living skin after UV irradiation is an effective tool for restoring immune function and suggest that this approach may be broadly applicable to preventing other alterations caused by DNA damage, including preventing or reversing viral activation (e.g., herpes virus activation), oncogene expression, or autoimmune episodes.

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