Advantage of soybean isoflavone as antiandrogen on acne vulgaris

Abstract

Background: Acne vulgaris (AV) is the commonest skin disorder, whereas soybean isoflavone had been proved as antiandrogen that is it can inhibit the enzyme 3ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase,17ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase and 5α-reductase. The purpose of this study is to prove the advantage of soybean isoflavone as antiandrogen on AV. Methods: this study is a clinical study using randomized pretest-posttest control group design. This study is a study with 40 samples randomized into 2 groups, i.e. placebo group and 160 mgs of isoflavone group, the duration is 12 weeks, conducted a double-blind manner. The dependent variabel is total of AV lesion, whereas the intermediate variable is DHT that will be examined using ELISA. Defferential test and multivariate analysis were performed on dependent, independent and intermediate variables. Results: This study found that the difference in mean of total AV lesion before treatment was not significant (p: 0.099), whereas after treatment it differed significantly (p: 0.000), with significant delta difference (p: 0.000). Difference of mean DHT level before treatment was not significant (p: 0.574), whereas after treatment it differed significantly (p: 0.000), with significant delta difference (p: 0.000). Delta of DHT (p: 0.003) (r: 0.736) had significant influence on delta of total AV lesion (P < 0.05). Conclusion: This study concludes that supplementation with 160 mgs/day of soybean isoflavone can reduce total AV lesion as a result of decreased DHT level.

Effect of Soy Isoflavones on the Improvement of Acne Vulgaris Severity by Reducing Tumor Necrosis Factor- Levels

“…Tretinoin is a topical retinoid that was proven effective as monotherapy, and has been the first drug of choice for mild and moderate AV [2,3]. Another study concerning the effect of soy isoflavone on in vitro human prostate cancer cell cultures has demonstrated that isoflavone will reduce the expression of TNF-and an animal model has demonstrated that isoflavone can inhibit the inflammatory response, by inhibiting the NFB, MAP kinase and several cellular signaling pathways, and thus reducing the expression of several pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1, IL-8 and TNF- [1] (Figure 2). Studies had proven that soy isoflavone could affect the androgen system.…”

“…Soy isoflavone used in this study was an extract of soy isoflavone produced and standardized by the pharmaceutical industry Nu-Health, California, United States of America. The treatment group was given 2 capsules; each capsule held 400 mg of soy isoflavone extract containing 80 mg of pure isoflavone [1]. Inclusion criteria were female AV patients for the last 3 months, not under any medication, and willing to participate in the study by signing the informed consent form.…”

“…Two dermatologists assessed the severity of AV, and the variability was then calculated using interclass correlation coefficient and alpha coefficient. The intervening variables in this study were age, body mass index (BMI), mean consumption of isoflavones and soy-based foods according to food recall, stress status according to Beck depression inventory (BDI) score, whereas confounding variables were genetic, ethnicity, environmental pollutants, and chemical substances [1].…”

“…Acne vulgaris (AV) is a chronic inflammatory disease of pilosebaceous units and one of the most common skin disorders [1][2][3]. Acne vulgaris is most common in teenagers and adults between the ages of 11 to 30.…”

“…East Asian ethnicity, such as Japanese, Chinese, and Korean usually showed lower AV prevalence compared with Caucasian, and white people showed higher nodulocystic acne prevalence compared with black people. In Indonesia, an estimated 15 million people suffer from AV between the ages of 13-40 [1]. Acne vulgaris is a dynamic and multifactorial process, involving four main factors, such as excess sebum production, hypercornification of the pilosebaceous ducts, inflammation caused by the colonization of Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes), and microcome done caused by hyperkeratosis in the infundibulum of the pilosebaceous duct, corneocyte cohesion, and sebum secretion, pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1, IL-8, and TNF- in the pathogenesis of AV [4][5][6].…”