Potential anti-skin aging effect of a peptide AYAPE isolated from Isochrysis zhanjiangensis on UVB-induced HaCaT cells and H2O2-induced BJ cells

AYAPE (Ala-Tyr-Ala-Pro-Glu) is a pentapeptide isolated from Isochrysis zhanjiangensis, previous studies have proved that this pentapeptide has antioxidant and inflammatory activities. In this study, we determined the anti-skin aging bioactivity of AYAPE with UVB-induced human immortalized keratinocytes (HaCaT) and H2O2-induced human skin fibroblasts (BJ cells) as models. The results showed that AYAPE against UVB-induced photoaging on HaCaT cells via alleviating DNA damage, reducing intracellular reactive oxygen (ROS) levels, down regulating phosphorylation of proteins in MAPK/AP-1 signaling pathways. In addition, AYAPE attenuated senescence related effectors expression in H2O2-induced BJ cells. Furthermore, p53 showed an important role in regulation effect of AYAPE in both two cells, and AYAPE showed a directly combination with p53 by molecular docking. These results demonstrated that AYAPE is potential to against skin aging by decreasing matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) production, inhibiting inflammation and apoptosis, and attenuating fibroblast senescence.