Skin safety testing to enable far-UV-C technologies for wide-spread inactivation of SARS-CoV-2

众所周知，紫外线可以灭活导致COVID-19大流行的SARS-CoV-2病毒。尽管这种说法主要是基于动物研究和对人类志愿者的有限研究，但人们普遍认为，高能紫外线，即“远紫外线- c”，“对人类是安全的”。英国预计将于2021年开始在公共场所使用远紫外线。这里建议“快速”生成安全数据，显示远紫外线c是否会引起全光谱紫外线所造成的损害类型（例如，晒伤，DNA损伤，皮肤免疫抑制，以及皮肤微生物群的改变，皮肤微生物群是生活在健康人类皮肤中的天然菌群）。我们必须了解远紫外线c对人体皮肤的影响，以确保其能够充分发挥作用。我们在此建议开展以下远紫外线c研究项目，以调查这项非常有前途的技术的有效性和安全性：*急性和慢性远紫外线c暴露对DNA的损伤*受损皮肤的DNA损伤(例如，*驻留在皮肤中的免疫细胞对远uv - c的反应（已知UV-B光在皮肤中引起免疫反应，但远uv - c的作用尚未得到评估）*急性和慢性暴露于远uv - c后皮肤微生物组的评估。远紫外线- c照射可能通过与SARS-CoV-2灭活相同的机制杀死或改变定殖在皮肤上的有益菌群的遗传物质*由皮肤模型中生成的数据指导的远紫外线- c穿透皮肤的计算机模拟我们建议在我们的新型专利保护的体外皮肤模型（TenSkin(tm)）中进行这些实验，该模型是最接近人体皮肤的模拟物。

UV light is known to inactivate SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also widely claimed that high energy UV light, called "far-UV-C", is 'safe for humans', although this claim is based predominantly on animal studies and limited studies in human volunteers. The UK is expected to begin employing far-UV-C in public spaces in 2021\. It is proposed here to _rapidly_ generate safety data showing whether or not far-UV-C causes the types of damage that full-spectrum UV light does (for example, sunburn, DNA damage, immunosuppression of the skin, and modifications to the skin microbiome, which is the natural flora that lives in healthy human skin). It is imperative that we understand the effects of far-UV-C on human skin to ensure it can be deployed to its full effectWe are proposing here to conduct the following far-UV-C research projects to investigate the efficacy and safety profile of this very promising technology:* DNA damage upon acute and chronic far-UV-C exposure* DNA damage to compromised skin (for example, wounded skin) upon far-UV-C exposure* Response of immune cells resident in the skin to far-UV-C (it is known that UV-B light elicits an immune response in skin, but the effect of far-UV-C has not been evaluated)* Evaluation of skin microbiome following acute and chronic exposure to far-UV-C. Far-UV-C irradiation may kill or modify the genetic material of the beneficial flora that colonise the skin by the same mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2 is inactivated* Computer simulation of far-UV-C penetration into skin guided by the data generated in the skin modelWe propose to conduct these experiments in our novel patent-protected _ex vivo_ skin model (TenSkin(tm)) which is the closest mimic available to human skin while still on the body.