Background: Studies conducted on human cell culture models have demonstrated that collagen-derived peptides can exert a beneficial effect in medicine. However, all these studies were conducted using animal collagen samples, most often originating from bovine or porcine skin. Currently attempts are being made to replace animal collagen with fish collagen.
Objectives: The aim of the study was to compare the effect of silver carp skin-derived peptide extract on the transcriptional activities of human VEGF and hsp70.1 gene promoters inserted into the plasmids with secreted alkaline phosphatase as a reporter gene.
Material and methods: Changes in the activity of the promoters were investigated using a HEK293FT cell line transfected with pVEGF-SEAP or pHsp70-SEAP. The cells were cultured in dishes containing peptides separated using reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography.
Results: The study demonstrated that the silver carp skin-derived peptide extract exerts both an inhibitory effect on the VEGF gene promoter and activating effect on the hsp70.1 gene promoter. Higher biological activity was recorded in the case of a freshly prepared peptide extract compared to one stored at 4°C for three months.
Conclusions: The silver carp skin-derived collagen peptides influence VEGF and hsp70.1 gene promoters' transcriptional activity.
Keywords: collagen; fish collagen; gene promoters; skin-derived peptide.