An Open-Label Clinical Trial Analyzing the Efficacy of a Novel Telomere-Protecting Antiaging Face Cream
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
It is curious that there are two male volunteers in one group, while none of the male volunteer was involved in second group. Please explain;
Furthermore, how would the age range of the one group volunteers are from 28 to 82 years, while the age range of the second group volunteers are from 40 to 70 years?
Page 17, Figure 1, the reviewer cannot find out the pink spots from the images. In addition, there was no scale bars within images of Figure 1. Furthermore, what are the relationship among those three images?
Figure 2, it was mentioned that “Significant differences are indicated”, the reviewer cannot find out “**” from the images;
Figure 4, why one example was indicated as “Volunteer 2 Untreated”, while another was indicated as “Volunteer 6 Treated”?
It feels that both Table 1 and Table 2 are unnecessary, as those data were already presented in the previous figures;
Pure Astragaloside IV has a diuretic effect, lowers blood pressure, improves exercise performance, and increases physical activity. References are required;
The author must follow the guidelines regarding the format of the manuscript.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
In present work "An Open-Label Clinical Trial Analyzing the Efficacy of a novel Telomere protecting Anti-Aging Face Cream" provided by Christina Alt, Menelaos Tsapekos, Diego Perez, Joachim Klode and Ingo Stoffels, the authors present a study of the effect of the compound Astragaloside IV on skin rejuvenation. The paper is clearly written, the introduction is adequate, and the materials and methods are described in detail, in contrast to the results, which are described very briefly. There are several important points to note that are not sufficiently well described and presented in cell culture and in vivo experiments. It was not stated how many divisions the cells made in the culture and it is not clear whether Astragaloside IV affects cell growth and to what extent. Astragaloside IV is known to be isolated as a compound that should activate telomerase in normal somatic cells. This function of astragaloside IV is not mentioned anywhere in the paper, although the differences in telomere length after treatment are described. If there is a difference in the length of telomeres, then we should also see a difference in cell growth, that is, in the number of cell culture divisions. Also, in Figure 1 with cell samples showing telomere length (PNA-FISH signals), it is not clear whether cells from culture or tissue cells are presented. If these are tissue cells, it would be good if skin sections were presented so that it can be discerned which cells are involved. If skin fibroblasts or stem cells are in the pictures, for example. Also, in the In vivo experiments it was not specified what concentration of the active compound was used in the cream and on which surface of the skin the cream was applied and to what quantity, so that the variations in the application of the compound between subjects are not known as regards the amount or concentration per unit area. Also in the discussion it is mentioned that Astragaloside IV is a peptide which it is not. Likewise, in Figure 2, the description of the image for the control samples does not say the concentration and whether the compound was applied with or without H2O2, which can be confusing for some readers. In Figure 4, example 1 should replace the treated and untreated data description as it is described in the other examples in the same figure, otherwise it looks confusing.
In general, the authors must specify the mentioned issues before publishing the work.
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
- Abstract need to be rewritten according to guidelines for clinical trial reporting (study setting, period, number of participants, results with p value etc) - it is not informative in present form
- Please introduce all abbreviations in the manuscript (DNA, TLR etc)
- English language and scientific style must be improved throught the manuscript
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
In this study, the ratio of male to female and the age range of patients in each group are inconsistent. The method is not rigorous. It is therefore difficult to draw convincing conclusion
Reviewer 2 Report
Authors provide five figures, but in the text they address only Figures 2 and 5? In results or discussion sections authors must address Figures 1, 3 and 4 as well in the part of text that describe those results!
