The prestigious international scientific journal, “Methods in Molecular Biology”, published a research article by the Head of the Department of Natural and Applied Sciences of the College of Arts and Sciences at the American University of Iraq-Baghdad (AUIB), Dr. Mohammad Fayyad Kazan, titled, “Proteomic Methods to Study Autophagy in Skin Exposed to Pollutants”. Dr. Kazan collaborated on the research project with professors of biotechnology at Grenoble Alpes University, Dr. Walid Rachidi and Dr. Michel Seve, and researchers at Clarins, a prominent French cosmetics company. This research builds on another, the results of which had been published by the International Journal of Molecular Sciences in an article by Dr. Kazan titled, “Effect of Ultraviolet Radiation and Benzo[a]pyrene Co-Exposure on Skin Biology: Autophagy as a Potential Target”.
“Clarins is interested in developing a new product that attempts treatment of skin diseases arising from daily, simultaneous exposure to pollutants, most prominent of which are ultra-violet sun radiation and fumes. We studied how skin cells react (to the aforementioned pollutants) in terms of the quantity of proteins, and we concluded that some processes inside cells change their functions,” says Dr. Kazan, explaining that certain proteins that spur cells to divide have increased in quantity as a result of exposure, driving these cells to become cancerous, while there has been a decrease in the quantity of other proteins that are associated with the death of cells, and that consequently contribute to prevention of cancer.
Dr. Kazan adds that the recently published article describes in detail the protocol according to which the “full investigation” that yielded the results summarized above was carried out, highlighting that several researchers have validated these results and the methodology that led to them, thus making the protocol an established one that may be used by researchers in the field all over the world.
The article may be accessed via the following link: