Spanish scientists discover a key protein in skin aging

The IL-17 protein plays a key role in skin aging, but skin deterioration can be prevented by inhibiting this protein.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
07 June 2023 Wednesday 22:53
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Spanish scientists discover a key protein in skin aging

The IL-17 protein plays a key role in skin aging, but skin deterioration can be prevented by inhibiting this protein. This has been demonstrated by scientists from the Barcelona Biomedical Research Institute (IRB) and the National Center for Genomic Analysis (CNAG) in research published today in Nature Aging .

In experiments conducted with mice, researchers have shown that there is a significant increase in the IL-17 protein in the skin with age. This protein, which is part of the immune system, has a proinflammatory action that is associated with some of the damage that accumulates in the skin.

There are already drugs that block this protein and are used to treat autoimmune inflammatory diseases such as psoriasis. Since IL-17 is necessary for the proper functioning of the immune system in healthy people, the researchers rule out that these drugs can be used as antiaging therapy. But they could be useful to treat pathological situations related to aging.

“We have seen that by blocking this protein, the appearance of various deficiencies associated with aging skin is slowed down. This discovery opens up new possibilities to treat some of the symptoms or facilitate the recovery of the skin after surgery," Salvador Aznar-Benitah, an Icrea researcher at the IRB and co-director of the study, stated in a statement.

“Blocking [IL-17 protein] permanently would not be an option. What we have observed is that its temporary inhibition offers benefits that could be interesting at a therapeutic level”, adds Guiomar Solanas, also co-director of the research at the IRB.

Building on these results, the researchers plan to study whether IL-17 plays a role in the aging of other tissues and organs.