Longevity Briefs: In Search Of A Real Solution To Skin Ageing

Longevity briefs provides a short summary of novel research in biology, medicine, or biotechnology that caught the attention of our researchers in Oxford, due to its potential to improve our health, wellbeing, and longevity.

The problem:

While wrinkles and sagging may be the most obvious signs of skin ageing, the deterioration of the skin is more than just a cosmetic issue. Aged skin becomes more vulnerable to damage and disease due to weakened structure and immune defences. This decline is at least partially due to senescence, including in the cells of the immune system, which leads to an increase in chronic inflammation. Cellular senescence is a state in which cells are unable to divide or function properly, but also resist destruction by the immune system. As a result they accumulate in old age, contributing to disease in most tissues.

It is hoped that treatments designed to reduce the burden of senescent cells could slow or reverse some aspects of ageing and prevent age-related diseases. There are multiple strategies for doing this, such as blocking the release of inflammatory signals from senescent cells, turning them back into normal cells or simply destroying them. Drugs targeting senescent cells in some way are known as senotherapeutics. In this study, researchers present human evidence that their proprietary topical senotherapuetic, OS-01, can improve skin quality and function. OS-01 is a peptide that has previously been shown to reduce senescence in skin tissue samples, though it’s not clear exactly how. Anti-ageing skincare products often draw scepticism due to the lucrative cosmetics industry being founded on evidence that can be of dubious quality, but a treatment that truly targeted skin ageing (and not just in a cosmetic sense) could greatly improve quality of life among the elderly.

The discovery:

60 female participants aged 60-90 were randomized to receive a topical formulation containing either OS-01 or a commercially available moisturizer as a control. The trial was double-blinded, meaning neither the participants nor the people handing out the treatments knew which one was the control. The trial lasted 12 weeks, and researchers looked at multiple different metrics of skin function: skin barrier function (measured by how quickly water was lost through the skin), skin hydration and skin pH. They also looked at circulating markers of inflammation and measured participants’ biological age using GlycanAge, which is a test that estimates biological age based on the presence of glycans (carbohydrates that can attach themselves to proteins and lipids).

At the end of the study, the OS-01 group showed significantly improved skin barrier function (lower transepidermal water loss) and hydration compared to the control group. There was a significant reduction in one inflammatory molecule (IL-8) and a trend towards reductions in other inflammatory markers in the OS-01 group, though there was also a significant decrease in IL-10, an anti-inflammatory molecule. The authors suggest that this is not necessarily a bad thing, and could simply be a response to the decrease in pro-inflammatory molecules, or a sign of heightened immune defences. There was a slowing of biological ageing according to GlycanAge. Participants also in the OS-01 group reported significantly greater improvements in their skin’s appearance and quality in questionnaires.

The implications:

Since researchers found no detectable levels of OS-01 in the blood, it would appear that all of the above benefits were due exclusively to effects on the skin, locally. While we don’t often think of it this way, the skin is a very large organ, and so a reduction in senescence in the skin could have a significant impact on body-wide inflammation and biological ageing. More confirmation will be needed from larger, longer-lasting trials. There are also a few issues with the design of this study, such as some data being self-reported and subjective, and the fact that the control group did not receive the same formulation as the experimental group (just without the OS-01), but rather a commercially available moisturizer. This means we can’t be 100% sure that the differences between the two groups were due to the OS-01 – some component of the moisturizer could have been partly responsible.

OS-01 isn’t yet commercially available, but this study does hint at the importance of maintaining healthy skin beyond cosmetic reasons, as this may actually have an impact on ageing throughout the body. The single most important thing everyone can do to maintain healthy skin is to protect it from ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. While some diets, supplements or skincare products might also have some benefit, their impact is minor by comparison.