Studies by a Croatian biologist and a biotechnological patent from NAOS Laboratories bring a new anti-aging model: antioxidants that specifically protect proteins and promise twice as slow aging. Its translation into a topical serum has taken twelve years of research and will hit pharmacies in March.
Proteome. Write down that word. It is possible that soon there will be no talk of anything else. The proteome is all the proteins of a cell or an organism and it is the place where the secret of longevity is hidden. People who age well have a protein chain with few defects and that mutates slowly.
All this was not at all clear until a few years ago. The priority had been to study the genome –the genes–, until the investigations of a Croatian biologist focused on proteins, and specifically on some bacteria that acted as an anti-aging shield. Magazine Lifestyle caught up with him in Paris. His name is Miroslav Radman and he is well known for his research on DNA repair pathways, protein oxidation and its impact on aging.
His appearance may fit with an obsessed with microscopic structures who never leaves the laboratory. However, when he passionately begins to talk about his discoveries, a likeable man appears with real skills to tell things that are difficult to understand and to win – as they say now – the battle of the story. “There is nothing more dangerous than life, nothing more toxic than being alive,” he says before a packed auditorium on rue Cambon, in the center of Paris, who is curiously attending the NAOS Aging Science conference. It is his way of saying that mutating is an inevitable consequence of living; and getting old, a process that begins the day we came into this world. Unstoppable, but one that can be slowed down.
Radman has spent years paying attention to the most resistant beings in nature, organisms capable of withstanding extreme conditions and coming out stronger from the experience. For him they are an example of “a perfect evolution in terms of biological resistance”. “They have such a capacity for genetic adaptation that they transform a hostile environment into an optimal one,” he explains. Radman calls them “extremophile organisms” and gives a bacterium as examples. Here we leave its scientific name: Deinococcus radiodurans. If we had its resistance to time we would age twice as slowly.
“The self-repairing capacity of these organisms allows them to withstand high doses of radiation. These bacteria protect proteins from corrosion and do so with stainless proteins that repair DNA fragments”, explains the professor. The question seems obvious: where are these stainless proteins and what do we have to do to make them reproduce like mushrooms inside the human organism?
A similar question has guided the studies of Dr. Radman who has concluded that the survival of living beings depends on the activity of their proteins. The skin, like the rest of the organism, ages because its cells age, and these age because their proteome oxidizes. This approach has meant a change in the paradigm of anti-aging medicine because it places the target in proteins and not, as up to now, in genes.
“What we have discovered is that Deinococcus radiodurans is extremely resistant because its proteome is perfectly protected,” says Radman. On the other hand, another bacterium, Arthrobacter agilis, native to Antarctica and discovered in snowflakes in 2010 by a NAOS Laboratoires researcher, has shown powerful antioxidant properties and a special affinity for the skin.
The combination of both agents and the paradigm shift to the protection of the proteome marks the beginning of a new generation of products aimed at promoting healthy aging of the skin. NAOS and the Esthederm Institute are pioneers in this category, having patented the Age Proteom biotech technology, the first proteome protection active ingredient. “The most effective way to protect skin proteins and restore their functions is an active ingredient, both lipophilic and hydrophilic, with a dual mode of action: chaperone to protect protein structure and antioxidant to prevent carbonylation,” he explains. Isabelle Benoit, member of the NAOS scientific committee.
After water, what is most abundant in our body are proteins that perform multiple functions, the proteome is the starting point of all the functions of the skin. Its alteration is the main cause of aging. Protein changes translate to the skin, such as wrinkles, loss of luminosity, firmness and density. The oxidation of proteins is called carbonylation and can affect 30% of all proteins in the body, particularly those in the skin.
NAOS’s patented Age Proteom topical application hits pharmacies for the first time after twelve years of research. Inspired by Professor Radman’s work, the NAOS research team selects an extremophile bacterium with specific properties to protect the skin proteome. It comes in the form of a serum and is also called Age Proteom. It is a serious product that will have to be applied disciplined morning and night every day of the year. It can be integrated into all beauty routines and applied together with any cream.
In their clinical studies, changes in the aging process were measured after a period of six months of use. The product was used on one side of the face only and then compared to the other untreated side. The results showed that the signs of aging were delayed almost twice as long. Signs of aging were considered to be a loss of firmness, wrinkles, less radiance, a more uneven complexion with blotches, and a loss of firmness and density.
It is the first anti-aging serum specifically aimed at protecting proteins. Precisely to the proteome, that word that we ask you to write down and remember because it will be at the center of all the longevity discourse that is coming.
