Can you replace a protein with a tripeptide? No. Here is why.

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) starts its very important work by binding with a specific receptor, the EGFR,  on the cell membrane.

Figure: Mechanisms of EGFR activation in keratinocytes. From Pastore et al. (2008)

The usual analogy for a protein binding to a receptor (or a substrate) is that of a lock and key. Its’ a good analogy because they both require a 3-dimensional fit. Just try to open a lock using a photocopy of a key, or break a real key in small pieces and try again with that tip piece. No point, right? Yet, some companies are trying to sell tripeptides on the false premise that they can substitute for epidermal growth factor. They can’t.

There are two explanation for why skin care companies will try to sell you tripeptides to bind to receptors for growth factors is greed. Or ignorance. I don’t know which one is worse.

In the past, it was greed that motivated skincare companies to use cow’s organs for epidermal growth factor activity. It may have been yucky (and banned by the FDA) but at least it was effective. Cows’ fetal serum contains growth factors which will bind to epidermal growth factor receptors on human cells. But tripeptides will do nothing, so please, don’t buy products that promise EGF activity for tripeptides. And keep away from companies that use fake science to sell stuff.

Let’s take advantage of advances in biochemistry brought about by basic research at universities and other research institutions, and use “real” epidermal growth factor like that used by Skin Actives Scientific.

Reference

Pastore, S., Mascia, F, Mariani, V. and  Girolomoni, G. (2008)  The Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor System in Skin Repair and Inflammation,
J. Inv. Dermatology, 128: 1365-1374, ISSN 0022-202X, https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jid.5701184.