Sunscreen is the one product in a skincare routine whose main claim is regulated and tested as a number: the SPF. Adding PDRN to one adds a second claim — that the salmon or plant DNA helps the skin recover from the sun — which nobody measures. This page reads ten PDRN sunscreens, sets what they declare against the laboratory work behind the repair idea, and keeps the two claims apart. It does not rank the products or say which one to use.
For the PDRN background, see the PDRN explainer and the size comparison between PDRN and peptides. For what US rules allow a sunscreen to claim, and why a peptide or any other added ingredient sits outside them, our peptide sunscreen page sets out 21 CFR 201.327 in full; it is not repeated here.
What ten sunscreens declare
The ten products were found on INCIDecoder on 2 November 2026 by searching "pdrn sunscreen" and "pdrn sun", and their lists were taken from that database's copy of each brand's published label — a record of the label on that date, not a test of what is in the tube. "Filters outside the US list" means at least one UV filter missing from the sixteen active ingredients that US sunscreen labelling names.
| Sunscreen | Ingredients | Sodium DNA position | Amount stated | Filters outside the US list |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VT PDRN Air Cloud Sunscreen | 79 | 8 (listed again at 51) | — | yes |
| Wardah PDRN Sunscreen Barrier Longevity Physical Sun Ampoule SPF 50+ | 33 | 13 | — | no (zinc oxide, titanium dioxide) |
| VT PDRN Glow Sun Essence SPF50+ | 50 | 17 | 5 ppb | yes |
| SNP PDRN Ectoin UV Aging Recovery Sun Serum SPF50+ | 61 | 19 | 1 ppb | yes |
| Medicube No Cast Just Dew PDRN Hydrating UV Sun Serum SPF 50 | 42 | 40 | — | no (homosalate, octocrylene, octisalate, ensulizole) |
| Dr.G Skin Boost PDRN Sun Serum | 46 | 40 | 55,000 ppb | yes |
| VT PDRN Moist Tone Up Sun Essence | 54 | 43 | — | yes |
| Mediheal PDRN Moisture Tone-up Sun Serum SPF 50+ | 63 | 50 | 1 ppm | yes |
| Hanasui PDRN Active Pro Sunscreen Serum SPF 50+ | 64 | 52 | — | yes |
| Medicube PDRN Pink Tone Up Sun Cream SPF50+ | 58 | 58 (last) | 0.05 ppb | yes |
What the table shows:
- The filters lead; the DNA follows. On every list the UV filters sit near the top, which is where a regulated active at several percent belongs. Sodium DNA's median position is 40th, and it is in the second half of the list on six of the ten.
- Five brands state an amount, and the amounts do not belong to the same order of magnitude. Dr.G's 55,000 parts per billion is 55 parts per million, about 0.0055 percent. Medicube's tone-up cream states 0.05 parts per billion, which is 0.000000005 percent. The highest stated amount is about 1.1 million times the lowest. Both products are called PDRN sunscreens.
- What 0.05 parts per billion means in a tube. At that strength one gram of cream holds about 0.05 nanograms of DNA, so a 50-gram tube would hold about 2.5 nanograms in total — a few billionths of a gram.
- Three of the ten are also peptide products. VT Air Cloud declares a dipeptide, Wardah an SH-polypeptide, and VT Moist Tone Up several growth-factor-style SH-peptides; as with every multi-active product, nothing noticed afterwards can be credited to one ingredient.
- Most of these are not US formulas. Eight of the ten use filters such as ethylhexyl triazone, diethylamino hydroxybenzoyl hexyl benzoate or bis-ethylhexyloxyphenol methoxyphenyl triazine that US labelling rules do not list. Only the Medicube No Cast serum and the Wardah mineral ampoule draw their filters from the US list alone.
Where the repair idea comes from
A PubMed search on 2 November 2026 for PDRN or polydeoxyribonucleotide with ultraviolet, UVA, UVB or photoaging returned 18 records. Read title by title, eight are DNA-chemistry and immunology papers from 1974 to 2003 that use "polydeoxyribonucleotide" in its laboratory sense and have nothing to do with skincare. The skin-relevant ones are laboratory and animal studies:
| Study | What was done | What it can and cannot show |
|---|---|---|
| Belletti et al., 2007 (PMID 17986061) | PDRN added at 100 µg/mL to human dermal fibroblasts right after UVB exposure | faster repair of UV-induced DNA lesions in cells in a dish; no skin, no sunscreen |
| Oh et al., 2025 (PMID 40650176) | polynucleotide and a polynucleotide mixture on UVB-exposed keratinocytes and animal skin | lower pigment markers and melanin in cells and animals; no people, no sunscreen |
| Ye et al., 2026 (PMID 42430369) | a 0.1% medium-length PDRN eye cream vs 0.1% retinol, 31 women, 28 days, split-face | the one human topical trial; an eye cream, not a sunscreen, run with company-affiliated authors |
The arithmetic matters here. The cell experiment used about 100 parts per million in culture medium, bathing the cells directly. The sunscreens that state an amount carry between about half that (Dr.G) and two million times less (Medicube tone-up), spread as a thin film on the outside of intact skin. And a cell in a dish has no outer skin layer to cross: the DNA chains in PDRN start at around 50,000 daltons, a hundred times the approximate 500-dalton ceiling for passive entry through healthy skin (Bos and Meinardi, 2000). The laboratory results say nothing about what a sunscreen film delivers.
What has been tested
Put the other way round — PDRN, polydeoxyribonucleotide, polynucleotide or sodium DNA searched together with sunscreen or sun protection — PubMed returned just one paper on 2 November 2026, and it is the 2025 expert consensus on skincare around injectable treatments (PMID 41230112), not a study of any product. Nobody has published a measurement of whether DNA inside a sunscreen changes sunburn, UV damage markers, pigmentation or ageing in people.
What can fairly be said
- A PDRN sunscreen protects, if at all, through its UV filters, and the SPF on the pack is a measurement of the whole product.
- The DNA in the ten read here sits mostly in the back half of the list; where it is quantified, the amounts run from 0.0055 percent down to a few nanograms per tube.
- The repair claim comes from cells and animals, at concentrations most of these products do not approach.
- What is not established is any added benefit of PDRN in a sunscreen. A reader choosing sun protection for a medical reason — a skin cancer history, a photosensitising drug, melasma — has a question for a dermatologist, not for an ingredient list.
Sources
Opened 2 November 2026: INCIDecoder product pages (ingredient lists as transcribed that day) for the ten sunscreens in the table, found by the site searches "pdrn sunscreen" and "pdrn sun". PubMed E-utilities searches: ("PDRN"[tiab] OR polydeoxyribonucleotide*[tiab] OR "sodium DNA"[tiab] OR polynucleotide*[tiab]) AND (sunscreen*[tiab] OR "sun protection"[tiab]) (1 record) and ("PDRN"[tiab] OR polydeoxyribonucleotide*[tiab]) AND (ultraviolet[tiab] OR UVB[tiab] OR UVA[tiab] OR photoaging[tiab] OR photoageing[tiab]) (18 records, every title read). Abstracts: Belletti S et al., Photodermatol Photoimmunol Photomed 2007, PMID 17986061; Oh S et al., Int J Mol Sci 2025, PMID 40650176; Ye R et al., PLoS One 2026, PMID 42430369 (participant count from PMC13353946); consensus guide, Aesthet Surg J Open Forum 2025, PMID 41230112. Size limit: Bos JD, Meinardi MM, Exp Dermatol 2000, PMID 10839713. US sunscreen labelling: 21 CFR 201.327, as set out on our peptide sunscreen page. Corrections go to the contact page.