Innovation

Immune support products is one of the fastest growing segments in dietary supplements. Until now, vitamins and minerals have been the focus when it comes to an intact immune system. Recent evidence shows: Collagen proteins also play an important part. GELITA’s latest bioactive collagen peptide (BCP^®) IMMUPEPT™ has the potential to positively impact the immune system – offering new opportunities for the next generation of immune products.

GELITA was quick to observe a connection between the immune system and collagen peptides. Meanwhile, more and more evidence supports an important role for collagen-rich tissue in supporting a well-functioning immune system. People’s growing need for a better immune defense, triggered by the coronavirus crisis, then made the topic even more urgent. GELITA now presents IMMUPEPT™, the first solution to unlock the benefits of bioactive collagen peptides for immune health. There is great interest in the new product: Numerous potential customers took part in a webinar entitled “The role of specific collagen peptides in immune health – Understand the latest study findings,” which GELITA hosted in mid-January. But first things first.

Not all collagen peptides are identical. A well-characterized peptide profile is key for optimal bioactivity on target cells and therefore for an optimal, demonstrable effect. GELITA’s various bioactive collagen peptides have just such a characteristic peptide profile. For IMMUPEPT™, the BCP^® selected were those with the strongest potential to boost immune health. With IMMUPEPT™, GELITA offers two solutions for immune health. IMMUPEPT™25 and IMMUPEPT™50.

The connective tissue’s role in immune health extends beyond the skin to the ECM throughout the body. The ECM is a three-dimensional environment in which most immune cells are mobile and operate. Not only does it serve as a structural framework for the body, but numerous metabolic functions also take place in it, including the inflammatory response. Fibroblasts, the connective tissue’s primary cells, are the ECM’s metabolically active cells. The bioactive collagen peptides contained in IMMUPEPT™25 have been shown to stimulate the biosynthesis of several ECM proteins involved in the immune response.

Bones are also collagen-rich tissue. Knowing that immune cells originate from the bone marrow, it is easy to imagine that bones also have an effect on the immune system. Bone cells and immune cells regulate each other as part of an interplay between bones and the immune system: Healthy bones support a healthy immune system and vice versa. GELITA has therefore added bone-specific collagen proteins to IMMUPEPT™50. The bioactive collagen peptides can help to optimally regulate the metabolism of the cells responsible for bone remodeling, which can also contribute to a healthy immune system.

When the immune system responds effectively, inflammation recedes quickly. However, if the immune response is too strong, immune modulation can be vital because immune dysfunction can cause many diseases. Preclinical studies from the Collagen Research Institute (CRI) in Kiel, Germany, indicate an immune-modulatory effect by IMMUPEPT™25 and IMMUPEPT™50 bioactive collagen peptides as they show the potential to reduce inflammation, tissue damage and oxidative stress.

There is huge interest from the dietary supplement industry. As a result, the response to the webinar was well above the hosting media benchmark for comparable events. Approximately 1,400 dietary supplement manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies and key opinion leaders registered for the webinar. Almost three quarters of the participants then contacted GELITA directly to find out more about IMMUPEPT™.

Dr. Steffen Oesser has conducted initial preclinical studies with bioactive collagen peptides such as those contained in IMMUPEPT™ at the Collagen Research Institute (CRI) in Kiel, Germany. Read the interview to find out where he sees the greatest potential of these peptides.

Dr. Oesser, how important are collagen peptides for immune health?

Dr. Steffen Oesser: Generally speaking, a large field has opened up with collagen peptides in the last decade, where it has been shown that specific collagen peptides have bioactivity in a wide variety of contexts. For example, supplementing with collagen peptides can play a major role in the formation of certain connective tissue, such as skin, bone, cartilage or tendons. What is new and highly surprising is that there is also a link between collagen peptides and our immune system. There is a connection between the immune system and the connective tissue in the sense of communication.

What exactly did you investigate in your preclinical study?

Dr. Steffen Oesser: We carried out initial basic investigations. For example, we induced inflammation in cells, which leads to activating the immune system and observed what happens when you intervene with very specific peptides.

What conclusion did you reach?

Dr. Steffen Oesser: We found that collagen peptides could be used to achieve what we had already theorized. Intervention attenuated the inflammatory response. And, what is very important, within reason. In itself, the inflammatory response is a good and important reaction by the body. The body has to respond to certain events with an inflammation, it ramps up the metabolism, thus eliminating the problem, i. e. the disease, faster. However, if the defense mechanism overshoots the mark, which may well be the case, the response becomes a problem for the body. Then the person does not suffer from the original problem, but from the body’s response to the problem. It is therefore interesting to see that the peptides do not block the response, but the excess is mitigated within a physiologically reasonable range. This can be significant for some diseases.

What are these diseases?

Dr. Steffen Oesser: All of them that involve chronic inflammation. So, for example, rheumatoid arthritis, in which the body defends itself against its own collagen. It can be assumed that these patients will benefit from the additional treatment with these specially tailored peptides.

How do you assess the potential of IMMUPEPT™?

Dr. Steffen Oesser: stick with the example of rheumatoid arthritis, a disease that also occurs in children. The currently available treatments are limited. You can, of course, do something about the disease, but with relapses the treatment must include an anti-inflammatory component, such as cortisone. This does help but brings undesirable side effects. Because it is a disease that sufferers have to deal with for the rest of their lives, they often end up suffering more from the side effects of their medication than from the disease itself. Collagen is not known to have any undesirable side effects and still has an immune-modulatory effect. I see the greatest potential of bioactive collagen peptides as being able to offer sufferers something that can attenuate inflammation without any undesirable side effects.