Double-blind, vehicle-controlled clinical investigation of peptide OS-01 for skin rejuvenation

INTRODUCTION

Senescent cells contribute to age-related tissue deterioration, including the skin, which plays important roles in overall health and social interactions. This study aimed to assess the effects of the senotherapeutic peptide, OS-01 (a.k.a. Pep 14), on skin.

METHODS

A 12-week split-face, double-blinded, vehicle-controlled study involving 22 participants was conducted. The OS-01-containing formulation was applied to one side of the face, while the other side received an identical control formulation lacking the peptide. Skin characteristics were assessed using instrumental measurements, expert clinical grading, and subjective questionnaires.

RESULTS

Results showed that the OS-01 formulation significantly improved one aspect of skin barrier function, as evidenced by reduced trans-epidermal water loss compared to both baseline and vehicle control. Expert grading and Antera 3D image analysis revealed a reduction in wrinkle appearance and indentation in the periorbital area, and improved skin texture and radiance on both sides of the face, with the OS-01-containing formulation demonstrating superior results. Participants also perceived improvements in skin hydration, smoothness, radiance, and overall appearance.

CONCLUSION

The findings suggest that the OS-01 formulation promotes skin health by strengthening the skin barrier, protecting against dehydration, reducing the appearance of wrinkles, and improving skin texture and radiance. These effects are likely attributed to the senotherapeutic properties of OS-01 in reducing cellular senescence and its associated detrimental effects.

Senotherapeutic Peptide 14 Suppresses Th1 and M1 Human T Cell and Monocyte Subsets In Vitro

Inflammation contributes to the onset and exacerbation of numerous age-related diseases, often manifesting as a chronic condition during aging. Given that cellular senescence fosters local and systemic inflammation, senotherapeutic interventions could potentially aid in managing or even reducing inflammation. Here, we investigated the immunomodulatory effects of the senotherapeutic Peptide 14 (Pep 14) in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), monocytes, and macrophages. We found that, despite failing to significantly influence T cell activation and proliferation, the peptide promoted a Th2/Treg gene expression and cytokine signature in PBMCs, characterized by increased expression of the transcription factors GATA3 and FOXP3, as well as the cytokines IL-4 and IL-10. These observations were partially confirmed through ELISA, in which we observed increased IL-10 release by resting and PHA-stimulated PBMCs. In monocytes from the U-937 cell line, Pep 14 induced apoptosis in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated cells and upregulated IL-10 expression. Furthermore, Pep 14 prevented LPS-induced activation and promoted an M2-like polarization in U-937-derived macrophages, evidenced by decreased expression of M1 markers and increased expression of M2 markers. We also showed that the conditioned media from Pep 14-treated macrophages enhanced fibroblast migration, indicative of a functional M2 phenotype. Taken together, our findings suggest that Pep 14 modulates immune cell function towards an anti-inflammatory and regenerative phenotype, highlighting its potential as a therapeutic intervention to alleviate immunosenescence-associated dysregulation.

Senotherapeutic peptide treatment reduces biological age and senescence burden in human skin models

Cellular senescence is known to play a role in age-related skin function deterioration which potentially influences longevity. Here, a two-step phenotypic screening was performed to identify senotherapeutic peptides, leading to the identification of Peptide (Pep) 14. Pep 14 effectively decreased human dermal fibroblast senescence burden induced by Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS), chronological aging, ultraviolet-B radiation (UVB), and etoposide treatment, without inducing significant toxicity. Pep 14 functions via modulation of PP2A, an understudied holoenzyme that promotes genomic stability and is involved in DNA repair and senescence pathways. At the single-cell level, Pep 14 modulates genes that prevent senescence progression by arresting the cell cycle and enhancing DNA repair, which consequently reduce the number of cells progressing to late senescence. When applied on aged ex vivo skin, Pep 14 promoted a healthy skin phenotype with structural and molecular resemblance to young ex vivo skin, decreased the expression of senescence markers, including SASP, and reduced the DNA methylation age. In summary, this work shows the safe reduction of the biological age of ex vivo human skins by a senomorphic peptide.

The Combination of Synoeca-MP Antimicrobial Peptide with IDR-1018 Stimulates Proliferation, Migration, and the Expression of Pro-Regenerative Genes in Both Human Skin Cell Cultures and 3D Skin Equivalents

In skin lesions, the development of microbial infection affects the healing process, increasing morbidity and mortality rates in patients with severe burns, diabetic foot, and other types of skin injuries. Synoeca-MP is an antimicrobial peptide (AMP) that exhibits activity against several bacteria of clinical importance, but its cytotoxicity can represent a problem for its positioning as an effective antimicrobial compound. In contrast, the immunomodulatory peptide IDR-1018 presents low toxicity and a wide regenerative potential due to its ability to reduce apoptotic mRNA expression and promote skin cell proliferation. In the present study, we used human skin cells and a 3D skin equivalent models to analyze the potential of the IDR-1018 peptide to attenuate the cytotoxicity of synoeca-MP, as well as the influence of synoeca-MP/IDR-1018 combination on cell proliferation, regenerative processes, and wound repair. We found that the addition of IDR-1018 significantly improved the biological properties of synoeca-MP on skin cells without modifying its antibacterial activity against S. aureus. Likewise, in both melanocytes and keratinocytes, the treatment with synoeca-MP/IDR-1018 combination induces cell proliferation and migration, while in a 3D human skin equivalent model, it can accelerate wound reepithelization. Furthermore, treatment with this peptide combination generates an up-regulation in the expression of pro-regenerative genes in both monolayer cell cultures and in 3D skin equivalents. This data suggests that the synoeca-MP/IDR-1018 combination possesses a good profile of antimicrobial and pro-regenerative activity, opening the door to the development of new strategies for the treatment of skin lesions.

Meeting Report: Aging Research and Drug Discovery

Aging is the single largest risk factor for most chronic diseases, and thus possesses large socioeconomic interest to continuously aging societies. Consequently, the field of aging research is expanding alongside a growing focus from the industry and investors in aging research. This year’s 8th Annual Aging Research and Drug Discovery (ARDD) meeting was organized as a hybrid meeting from August 30th to September 3rd 2021 with more than 130 attendees participating on-site at the Ceremonial Hall at University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and 1800 engaging online. The conference comprised of presentations from 75 speakers focusing on new research in topics including mechanisms of aging and how these can be modulated as well as the use of AI and new standards of practices within aging research. This year, a longevity workshop was included to build stronger connections with the clinical community.

Highly accurate skin-specific methylome analysis algorithm as a platform to screen and validate therapeutics for healthy aging

Background

DNA methylation (DNAm) age constitutes a powerful tool to assess the molecular age and overall health status of biological samples. Recently, it has been shown that tissue-specific DNAm age predictors may present superior performance compared to the pan- or multi-tissue counterparts. The skin is the largest organ in the body and bears important roles, such as body temperature control, barrier function, and protection from external insults. As a consequence of the constant and intimate interaction between the skin and the environment, current DNAm estimators, routinely trained using internal tissues which are influenced by other stimuli, are mostly inadequate to accurately predict skin DNAm age.

Results

In the present study, we developed a highly accurate skin-specific DNAm age predictor, using DNAm data obtained from 508 human skin samples. Based on the analysis of 2,266 CpG sites, we accurately calculated the DNAm age of cultured skin cells and human skin biopsies. Age estimation was sensitive to the biological age of the donor, cell passage, skin disease status, as well as treatment with senotherapeutic drugs.

Conclusions

This highly accurate skin-specific DNAm age predictor constitutes a holistic tool that will be of great use in the analysis of human skin health status/molecular aging, as well as in the analysis of the potential of established and novel compounds to alter DNAm age.

The Kinetics of Small Extracellular Vesicle Delivery Impacts Skin Tissue Regeneration

Small extracellular vesicles (SEVs) offer a promising strategy for tissue regeneration, yet their short lifetime at the injured tissue limits their efficacy. Here, we show that kinetics of SEV delivery impacts tissue regeneration at tissue, cellular, and molecular levels. We show that multiple carefully timed applications of SEVs had superior regeneration than a single dose of the same total concentration of SEVs. Importantly, diabetic and non-diabetic wounds treated with a single time point dose of an injectable light-triggerable hydrogel containing SEVs demonstrated a robust increase in closure kinetics relative to wounds treated with a single or multiple doses of SEVs or platelet-derived growth factor BB, an FDA-approved wound regenerative therapy. The pro-healing activity of released SEVs was mediated at the tissue/cell level by an increase in skin neovascularization and re-epithelization and at the molecular level by an alteration in the expression of 7 miRNAs at different times during wound healing. This includes an alteration of has-miR-150-5p, identified here to be important for skin regeneration.

IDR-1018 induces cell proliferation, migration, and reparative gene expression in 2D culture and 3D human skin equivalents

Skin lesions are associated with functional/cosmetic problems for those afflicted. Scarless regeneration is a challenge, not limited to the skin, and focus of active investigation. Recently, the host defense peptide innate defense regulatory peptide 1018 (IDR-1018) has shown exciting regenerative properties. Nevertheless, literature regarding IDR-1018 regenerative potential is scarce and limited to animal models. Here, we evaluated the regenerative potential of IDR-1018 using human 2D and 3D human skin equivalents. First, we investigated IDR-1018 using human cells found in skin-primary fibroblasts, primary keratinocytes, and the MeWo melanocytes cell line. IDR-1018 promoted cell proliferation and expression of marker of proliferation Ki-67, matrix metalloproteinase 1, and hyaluronan synthase 2 by fibroblasts. In keratinocytes, a drastic increase in expression was observed for Ki-67, matrix metalloproteinase 1, C-X-C motif chemokine receptor type 4, C-X-C motif chemokine receptor type 7, fibroblast growth factor 2, hyaluronan synthase 2, vascular endothelial growth factor, and elastin, reflecting an intense stimulation of these cells. In melanocytes, increased migration and proliferation were observed following IDR-1018 treatment. The capacity of IDR-1018 to promote dermal contraction was verified using a dermal model. Finally, using a 3D human skin equivalent lesion model, we revealed that the regenerative potential of IDR1018, previously tested in mice and pigs, is valid for human skin tissue. Lesions closed faster in IDR-1018-treated samples, and the gene expression signature observed in 2D was reproduced in the 3D human skin equivalents. Overall, the present data show the regenerative potential of IDR-1018 in an experimental system comprising human cells, underscoring the potential application for clinical investigation.

Modulation of Angiogenic Activity by Light-Activatable miRNA-Loaded Nanocarriers

The combinatorial delivery of miRNAs holds great promise to modulate cell activity in the context of angiogenesis. Yet, the delivery of multiple miRNAs with spatiotemporal control remains elusive. Here, we report a plasmonic nanocarrier to control the release of two microRNAs. The nanocarrier consists of gold nanorods modified with single-stranded DNA for hybridization with complementary DNA-conjugated microRNAs. DNA strands with distinct melting temperatures enable the independent release of each microRNA with a near-infrared laser using the same wavelength but different powers. Tests in human outgrowth endothelial cells (OECs) indicate that this system can be used to silence different targets sequentially and, by doing so, to modulate cell activity with spatiotemporal resolution. Finally, using an in vivo acute wound healing animal model, it is demonstrated that the order by which each miRNA was released in transplanted OECs significantly impacted the wound healing kinetics.

Antimicrobial peptide-gold nanoscale therapeutic formulation with high skin regenerative potential

Chronic skin wounds affect ≈3% of persons aged >60years (Davies et al., 2007) [1]. These wounds are typically difficult to heal by conventional therapies and in many cases they get infected making even harder the regeneration process. The antimicrobial peptide (AMP) LL37 combines antimicrobial with pro-regenerative properties and thus represents a promising topical therapy to address both problems. Here, we investigated the wound healing potential of soluble and immobilized LL37 (LL37-conjugated gold nanoparticles, LL37-Au NPs), both in vitro (migration of keratinocytes) and in vivo (skin wound healing). Our results show that LL37-Au NPs, but not LL37 peptide, have the capacity to prolong the phosphorylation of EGFR and ERK1/2 and enhance the migratory properties of keratinocytes in a large in vitro wound model. We further report that both LL37 and LL37-Au NPs promote keratinocyte migration by the transactivation of EGFR, a process that seems to be initiated at the P2X7 receptor, as confirmed by chemical and genetic inhibition studies. Finally, we show in vivo that LL37-Au NPs have higher wound healing activity than LL37 peptide in a splinted mouse full thickness excisional model. Animal wounds treated by LL37-Au NPs have higher expression of collagen, IL6 and VEGF than the ones treated with LL37 peptide or NPs without LL37. Altogether, the conjugation of AMPs to NPs offers a promising platform to enhance their pro-regenerative properties.

Human adipose tissue-derived stem cells cultured in xeno-free culture condition enhance c-MYC expression increasing proliferation but bypassing spontaneous cell transformation

Introduction

Human adipose tissue-derived stem cells (hASCs) are attractive cells for therapeutic applications and are currently being evaluated in multiple clinical trials. Prior to their clinical application, hASCs must be expanded ex vivo to obtain the required number of cells for transplantation. Fetal bovine serum is the supplement most widely used for cell culture, but it has disadvantages and it is not safe for cell therapy due to the risks of pathogen transmission and immune reaction. Furthermore, the cell expansion poses a risk of accumulating genetic abnormalities that could lead to malignant cell transformation. In this study, our aim was to evaluate the proliferation pattern as well as the resistance to spontaneous transformation of hASCs during expansion in a xeno-free culture condition.

Methods

hASCs were expanded in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium supplemented with pooled allogeneic human serum or fetal bovine serum to enable a side-by-side comparison. Cell viability and differentiation capacity toward the mesenchymal lineages were assessed, along with immunophenotype. Ki-67 expression and the proliferation kinetics were investigated. The expression of the transcription factors c-FOS and c-MYC was examined with Western blot, and MYC, CDKN2A, ERBB2 and TERT gene expression was assessed with quantitative PCR. Senescence was evaluated by β-gal staining. Karyotype analysis was performed and tumorigenesis assay in vivo was also evaluated.

Results

The hASCs expanded in medium with pooled allogeneic human serum did not show remarkable differences in morphology, viability, differentiation capacity or immunophenotype. The main difference observed was a significantly higher proliferative effect on hASCs cultured in pooled allogeneic human serum. There was no significant difference in C-FOS expression; however, C-MYC protein expression was enhanced in pooled allogeneic human serum cultures compared to fetal bovine serum cultures. No difference was observed in MYC and TERT mRNA levels. Moreover, the hASCs presented normal karyotype undergoing senescence, and did not form in vivo tumors, eliminating the possibility that spontaneous immortalization of hASCs had occurred with pooled allogeneic human serum.

Conclusions

This complete characterization of hASCs cultivated in pooled allogeneic human serum, a suitable xeno-free approach, shows that pooled allogeneic human serum provides a high proliferation rate, which can be attributed for the first time to C-MYC protein expression, and showed cell stability for safe clinical applications in compliance with good manufacturing practice.

Endothelial differentiation of human stem cells seeded onto electrospun polyhydroxybutyrate/polyhydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate fiber mesh

Tissue engineering is based on the association of cultured cells with structural matrices and the incorporation of signaling molecules for inducing tissue regeneration. Despite its enormous potential, tissue engineering faces a major challenge concerning the maintenance of cell viability after the implantation of the constructs. The lack of a functional vasculature within the implant compromises the delivery of nutrients to and removal of metabolites from the cells, which can lead to implant failure. In this sense, our investigation aims to develop a new strategy for enhancing vascularization in tissue engineering constructs. This study's aim was to establish a culture of human adipose tissue-derived stem cells (hASCs) to evaluate the biocompatibility of electrospun fiber mesh made of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and its copolymer poly-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate (PHB-HV) and to promote the differentiation of hASCs into the endothelial lineage. Fiber mesh was produced by blending 30% PHB with 70% PHB-HV and its physical characterization was conducted using scanning electron microscopy analysis (SEM). Using electrospinning, fiber mesh was obtained with diameters ranging 300 nm to 1.3 µm. To assess the biological performance, hASCs were extracted, cultured, characterized by flow cytometry, expanded and seeded onto electrospun PHB/PHB-HV fiber mesh. Various aspects of the cells were analyzed in vitro using SEM, MTT assay and Calcein-AM staining. The in vitro evaluation demonstrated good adhesion and a normal morphology of the hASCs. After 7, 14 and 21 days of seeding hASCs onto electrospun PHB/PHB-HV fiber mesh, the cells remained viable and proliferative. Moreover, when cultured with endothelial differentiation medium (i.e., medium containing VEGF and bFGF), the hASCs expressed endothelial markers such as VE-Cadherin and the vWF factor. Therefore, the electrospun PHB/PHB-HV fiber mesh appears to be a suitable material that can be used in combination with endothelial-differentiated cells to improve vascularization in engineered bone tissues.