Acne vaccine? UC San Diego researchers say ‘promising' vax may zap the zits

It sounds like a dream for many teenagers: a vaccine for acne.

Local researchers say they're a step closer to making it a reality: Scientists at UC San Diego say they've created a vaccine that reduces inflammation. The vaccine zeroes in on the bacterial enzyme that cause acne without affecting beneficial skin bacteria.

One of the researchers told NBC 7 that it all started by looking into why some people develop while others don't, despite the fact that we all have the same type of bacteria on our skin.

"What we've been able to do is identify one of these components that it pretty much different between those bacteria that cause acne and those that don't," Dr. George Liu, who is associated with UC San Diego's division of pediatric infectious diseases, told NBC 7. "And we've found that this one is a key component that drives the acne disease. And we're targeting it with a vaccine … to be able to block it and showing that it has some fairly promising results in blocking the disease."

Liu said around 70-80% of all people develop acne at some point in their lifetimes, most often during their teenage years.

As to when the vaccine might be available: Liu estimates between 5-10 years.