Therapeutic Peptides - what are they?
The word peptide refers to the structure of certain molecules. These molecules are made of chains of amino acids like proteins, but they are shorter than proteins. In biology the longer amino acid chains, proteins, tend to adopt specific shapes allowing them to perform structural and functional roles. Peptides are generally too short for this, acting in stead as messenger systems within and between cells and tissues. Some long distance messengers are peptides, the so called ‘peptide hormones’. 1000s of peptides have been discovered and studied, in animals and in humans. Therapeutic peptides are peptides that can be administered to patients and trigger physiological responses inside the body, shifting metabolism in favourable directions. Many medications are peptides, for example Insulin or the now infamous Semaglutide, the ingredient in Ozempic.
Peptides used as medicines are either identical to the native peptide produced by the human body or one similar enough to trigger the effect of the native human peptide, perhaps small changes to allow for better absorption or distribution throughout the body. This is quite different to the pharmaceutical paradigm we have become used to since the chemical revolution of the early 20th century where medicines were generally ‘de novo chemicals’, meaning they did not exist in nature. This allowed them to be patented. Additionally, pharmaceutical molecules usually block (and occasionally stimulate) receptors that WERE designed for existing biological messengers. Drugs, therefore, had a tendency to cause significant side effects.
Clinically peptides enhance certain metabolic pathways, and can be used to increase protein synthesis, reduce inflammation, promote the production, growth, healing and migration of cells. As metabolic pathways tend to weaken with ageing and illness, peptides may be useful at reversing this decline by restoring the flow of peptide messengers pushing cells and tissues to behave as younger versions of themselves.
To some extent youthful cells are youthful because they are bathed in a sea of youthful messages - from themselves and nearby cells (paracrine) and from distance cells and glands (endocrine). These messages decide which DNA to express as RNA, and do so in youthful patterns. This RNA in turn is translated into youthful structurally sound proteins, which are packaged and mixed with the appropriate vitamins and minerals in the endo reticulum and Golgi apparatus, and deployed inside and out of the cells to perform their valuable metabolic and structural rolls. At youthful speeds. At maximum capacity.
Aged cells and tissues are not bathed in these messages. The absence of these peptide messengers, combined with the inevitable accumulation of errors and damage from a life well lived, cause different patterns of gene expression. Faulty or unbalanced production of the proteome, errors in post ribosome processing with vitamins minerals glycans and lipids, resulting in lower, less functional levels of metabolic and structural proteins.
Many of these cells express disease markers on their surfaces, but a tired and aged immune system can't always remove them effectively, or does so only with excessive non-specific inflammation activation. Inflammation throttles mitochondrial energy production, worsening further still cellular function.
The regulatory status of peptides is emerging - this is an area that has caused me significant professional distress. Peptides are regulated differently in different jurisdictions. This may well be the subject of a later book.
Below a link to a book series on FAARM.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DJ5TMPJL?binding=kindle_edition&ref=dbs_dp_sirpi
Copyright Dr Christopher Maclay 2024. All rights reserved.
Disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes only, it does not constitute medical advice. Please consult with your health care practitioner for personalised medical advice.