Fibroblast Growth Factors: A Controlling Mechanism of Skin Aging

Cutaneous aging is a complex and continuous biological process characterized by cellular and molecular alterations, with progressive reduction of the body's capacity to maintain the homeostasis, senescence, and/or apoptosis of the dermal cells. Fibroblast growth factors (FGF) have elicited studies to evaluate their role of repair and remodeling of the dermis during the skin anti-aging process, since they are regulatory proteins that mediate important signaling pathways and act on cell regeneration and repair processes. FGF acts primarily through binding to tyrosine kinase receptors through the autophosphorylation of their residues, promoting the phosphorylation of serine, threonine, and tyrosine residues of specific target proteins such as Raf-1, MAPK/Erk kinase, and extracellular signal-regulated kinase-1, which are part of the cascade of MAP kinases (mitogen-activated protein kinase). Then, FGF initiate signaling cascades inside the cell, where each kinase activates the following by phosphorylation, resulting in alterations of cellular functions. In addition, the FGF has a relevant role in anti-aging therapy because it is related to collagen and elastin synthesis activation responsible for skin resistance and elasticity, characteristics that are diminished with skin aging. Thus, the present article aims to review several scientific studies that demonstrated the cell signaling involved with the action of FGF on skin aging.