May 2024 issue, BioElectRx Business Report
May 31, 2024 | Bioelectronic medicine therapies have offered promise for treating pathologies in a number of clinical specialties outside neurological disorders, including urology, cardiology, pulmonology, and endocrinology. Recently, a team of investigators from the University of Chicago and other institutions reported their work on a bioelectronic device with applications in dermatology.
Publishing in the journal Science, the team described their new active biointegrated living electronics (ABLE) platform, which combines skin bacteria-laden hydrogel with electronic components. Their bioelectronics system can deliver management and adaptive treatment of skin inflammation. They tested this approach in a mouse model of psoriasis.
“The nexus between living materials and electrical systems presents new opportunities to explore the interplay between biological and nonbiological systems,” the authors wrote. “The advent of living bioelectronics paves the way for controlled studies into the dynamics between potentially deleterious organisms and human tissues.”
The findings demonstrate the potential for clinical application of bioelectronic devices that promote drug-free therapeutic effects through a living hydrogel interface. “This amalgamation of living and synthetic components is a notable advance toward medical devices that enable real-time digital updates and adaptive treatment of nonrevolving inflammation,” said Peder Olofsson from the Karolinska Institute in a related Perspective.
Traditional bioelectronics face integration challenges with biological tissues due to mechanical, chemical, and biological incompatibilities. Hydrogels have been used to bridge these gaps, but they often lack the cellular functions needed for effective tissue modulation. Jiuyun Shi and colleagues addressed this with the ABLE platform, which integrates a hydrogel matrix containing Staphylococcus epidermidis—a common skin bacterium—and an electronic array to regulate skin inflammation and promote healing.
Inspired by natural biofilms that support bacterial survival, the ABLE platform leverages S. epidermidis for its ability to modulate skin cell activity. To evaluate the approach, the team applied ABLE devices to a mouse model of psoriasis, a chronic inflammatory disease often treated using small-molecule drugs that have potential systemic side effects. In a series of preclinical evaluations, the authors show that the ABLE platform could monitor and record skin electrical impedance, body temperature, and humidity.
The authors also demonstrated the device’s microbial-driven intervention of psoriasis by mitigating the expression of key psoriasis-related genes, targeting early innate immune activation and curbing subsequent inflammation.
