TOKYO – Beauty might only be skin deep, but for those wondering how to keepthat skin young, scientists may have found an answer in the form of aprotein that encourages cell competition.

The prosaically named COL17A1 might not sound like a fountain of youth, butthe new study suggests it does the heavy lifting when it comes to keepingskin intact and unimpaired.

The protein works by encouraging cell competition, a key process tomaintain tissue fitness. That effectively “drives out” weaker cells whileencouraging replication of stronger ones.

But ageing results in a depletion of COL17A1, as do familiar enemies ofyouthful skin, like UV radiation.

And when that happens, weaker cells replicate, leaving the skin thinner,more prone to damage and slower to heal.

The research published Thursday in the journal Nature is based oninvestigations using mice tails, which share many of the samecharacteristics as human skin.

After confirming the importance of COL17A1, the team decided to investigatewhether they could stimulate the protein once it was depleted effectivelylooking for compounds that could kick start the anti-ageing process in skin.

They isolated two chemical compounds — Y27632 and apocynin — and testedboth on skin cells, with positive results.

“Application of these drugs to full-thickness skin wounds significantlypromoted wound repair,” the study said.

The two compounds point to ways of “facilitating skin regeneration andreducing skin ageing,” the study added.

In a review of the study commissioned by Nature, two professors from theUniversity of Colorado said cell competition had previously only beenstudied extensively in fruit flies.

The research “provides evidence that healthy cells in mammals can alsoefficiently repopulate adult’s tissues, replacing unfit or damaged cells,”wrote professors Ganna Bilousova and James DeGregori.

And they said the research offered “proof-of-principle” that the twochemical compounds could combat ageing. – APP/AFP