Shiseido : Discovers Relationship of Macrophage Balance to Skin Aging for the First Time in the World

● What is inflammaging?
The inflammatory reaction is a necessary bodily defense reaction against external stimuli such as UV rays and dryness. However, it has been discovered that the inflammatory response does not disappear fully in the body, becoming more chronic, which has various adverse impacts on the body. The phenomenon of accelerated aging due to chronic inflammation is called inflammaging, and in recent years, there has become an urgent need to develop therapies for diseases caused by inflammaging. Although it has been suggested that a major cause of inflammaging may be failure to curb chronic inflammation in accordance with aging, the causes and mechanisms in the skin are not fully understood.
● Balance of M1 and M2 macrophages
In order to address chronic inflammation, the cause of inflammaging, it is considered important to remove the causes of inflammation such as waste products and normalize the function to stop inflammation. Shiseido has already accumulated various knowledge through research on lymphatic vessels that are responsible for removing waste products. This time, in pursuit of normalization of the function to stop inflammation, we conducted research to elucidate the mechanism of inflammaging by focusing on the balance between M1 and M2 macrophages*2.
*2 M1 macrophages are mainly responsible for inflammatory reaction and removing foreign materials, whereas M2 macrophages promote the anti-inflammatory reaction and repair of tissues damaged by inflammation.