Innovation with synthetic peptides: EIMEC’s commitment to the development of new skin care products

Tiempo de lectura: 10 minutos

The results are promising, and the advancement of a new dermo-cosmetic line focused on inflammatory skin diseases of autoimmune and oncological origin is EIMEC’s new challenge. Current data show that in the last 15 years, the incidence of psoriasis in Spain has increased from 1.4% to 2.3%. On the other hand, atopic dermatitis is a pathology that in developed countries occurs in between 7% and 20% of children (some 230 million people in the world). Chronic psoriasis is a condition that affects around 125 million people worldwide. While 50% of patients receiving radiotherapy as part of cancer treatment suffer from radiodermatitis.

New molecules for various pathologies

With this basic scenario, and as Dr. Paula Pifarré, EIMEC’s academic and research coordinator, explains, the work scheme for the development of new synthetic peptides with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and effective effects on fibrosis -designed to act on physiological targets-, emerged a little more than four years ago. We already had CAP Peptide 5 on the market as a result of previous research, led and financed by EIMEC’s scientific team, and after analyzing its properties together with the team from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), we decided to embark on a new research project with the aim of using the peptidomimetic technique to search for new molecules that could act on different pathologies,” says Pifarré. As we know, radiodermatitis is a pathology that is basically generated when the skin is exposed to radiation treatment in chemotherapy. According to statistics, 50% of these patients have a chance of developing this pathology. As the skin is the first barrier, in order to reach the target organ, the rays must pass through the skin, with the risks that this entails.

This led to an interest in developing some kind of molecule that would protect and care for the skin when it is exposed to this type of exposure. We tested our research by exposing the cells to bleomycin, since bleomycin is a “radiomimetic” drug that produces damage similar to that of radiotherapy,” says Pifarré. When we went a little further and began to see the properties of the peptides we were designing, we found that they also had a large anti-inflammatory component, and a powerful effect on some mesenchymal genes that have to do with the transition to fibrosis”. Thus, Pifarré enthuses, at EIMEC they began to develop the idea that they could not only work for the treatment of radiodermatitis but also for the treatment of skin diseases with an autoimmune component or origin, such as psoriasis or atopic dermatitis.

International recognition

When we evaluated that it modulated the immune response, in addition to protecting against an aggression from an oncological treatment agent such as bleomycin, we proposed that it could also be a good solution for other pathologies, such as psoriasis or radiodermatitis,” says Pifarré. In fact, the first results were along these lines. So much so that EIMEC’s scientific team decided to apply for the “Celebrate Innovation” award, sponsored by the Spanish laboratory Cantabria Labs. The result? EIMEC’s development was a finalist among more than 200 works from Spain and Italy, as one of the innovative molecules for the treatment of pathologies of autoimmune origin of the skin.

The research, and its results, were also presented at the IMCAS Congress in Paris, in the Innovation Tank section, which aims to promote advances in the area of dermatology and revolutionary treatments in aesthetic medicine. “We were also finalists,” says Pifarré proudly, ”and we went to Paris to defend the project in front of a tribunal of international experts.

As for the time spent and the bet made, Pifarré emphasizes that when one decides to invest in the search for new molecules, “one that works” may come out, but it can also be a sunk investment. “Initially, we tested more than twenty peptides, of which four had promising responses. Of those four, there was one, DATS peptide 3 [DNA Protection, Anti Inflammatory, Telomerase activity and Stress] that seemed to have more significant effects in protecting DNA against damage such as that caused by radiotherapy. It also had anti-inflammatory effects, on oxidative stress, maintains telomere length and had effects on mesenchymal transition, which is what happens when we have a fibrotic process, that is, fibrosis”.

A patent that enables the possibility of a specific product.

In conclusion, Pifarré underlines the importance of having achieved the granting of a patent, which not only implies the recognition of a deep and exhaustive research with the intention of curing a condition that affects millions of people around the world, but also the real possibility of developing a specific product that will be beneficial for the treatment and care of the skin in oncology patients.