Patent attributes
The invention relates to a cosmetic composition comprising a low molecular weight silk fibroin and a cosmetically acceptable carrier; wherein said low molecular weight silk fibroin comprises at least 85 parts by weight peptides of molecular weight less than 2500 Da, where amino acid sequence of at least 50 wt % of said peptides is GAGY, GAGAGAGY, GAGVGAGY or AWSSESDF and where said silk fibroin is produced by a process comprising the steps of: (i) mixing an aqueous solution comprising 0.01 to 20 wt % of a high molecular weight silk fibroin of weight average molecular weight 6 to 100 KDa with ochymotrypsin at temperature of 25 to 45° C., under pH of 6 to 9 for 4 to 24 hours; where ratio of said high molecular weight silk fibroin to said ochymotrypsin in said solution is from 100:1 to 300:1 parts by weight: (ii) inactivating excess ochymotrypsin and separating the inactivated α-chymotrypsin from reaction mixture of step (i); and (ill) drying said reaction mixture to obtain said low molecular weight silk fibroin; wherein said composition comprises 0.1 to 10% by weight of the low molecular weight silk fibroin.
