Lowering blood sugar, cholesterol

Glycine and serine can reduce blood cholesterol level, excrete harmful substances in the body. After feeding 5-week-old male mice hydrochloric acid hydrolysis product of silk fibroin, the test results show that fibroin hydrolyzate can reduce cholesterol level in male mice, these two amino acids are also up 17.9 % and 25.5% in silk fibroin, and it can be theorized that silk fibroin hydrolyzate also has the same function.
Silk fibroin is also a major component of hypoglycemic drugs.

Anticoagulant and anti-HIV activity
Silk fibroin or sulfated silk fibroin can be made into an anticoagulant. Add concentrated sulfuric acid silk fibroin or silk fibroin solution, the dosage of concentrated sulfuric acid is 0.5 times-500 times more than silk fibroin or silk fibroin solution, followed by stirring them several tens of minutes to several hours at 20℃-100℃ to obtain sulfated fibroin. After filtering, washing, dissolving in water, dialyzing and then freeze-drying to obtain the final water soluble sulfated silk fibroin or silk fibroin powder, the test of anti-blood clotting activity found anti-blood clotting activity like heparin, but the anticoagulant activity won’t exist without the sulfating.
Therefore, sulfated silk fibroin is an alternative to heparin with features of low-cost, high production efficiency and high safety, which can be used in a wide range of medical uses. Recently researchers evaluated the anti-HIV activity of sulfated silk fibroin anticoagulant and the result showed it could prevent the combination of HIV and immune cell surface protein. This new anticoagulant will be used to toothpaste and shaving ointment to prevent HIV infection.

Skin anti-inflammation
Water-soluble silk fibroin and its hydrolyzate have certain curative effect to certain skin diseases. After degumming, filtering, dialysing, then have the obtained silk fibroin solution concentrated and sterilized. We coat silk fibroin to patients who have suffered from contact dermatitis for 3 years and Atebrin dermatitis for 5 years. After cleanly washing, respectively apply 0.5% silk fibroin solution to the affected area. Most of the symptoms of contact dermatitis are alleviated after 20 days, all the symptoms disappeared after nearly two months; Most of the symptoms of Atebrin dermatitis decreased after a month, all the symptoms have disappeared after two months. Thus, silk fibroin is good anti-inflammatory agent in the treatment of certain skin diseases.
When silk fibroin is hydrolyzed by enzyme or acid, a new topical skin cream is obtained, which can promote the production of collagen from dermal fibroblasts, effectively prevent or mitigate a variety of skin conditions such as wrinkled skin aging, low skin elasticity, rough, black, relaxation. In addition, silk fibroin can also be mixed with Lignin dextran, UV absorbers, sticky polysaccharide and Carboxyl vinyl polymer or its derivative to produce another topical cream.

Anticancer activity
Rat experiments showed silk fibroin food could significantly inhibit the mice colon cancer probability and counting. Silk fibroin is expected to be developed into colon cancer preventive medicine. Scientists also demonstrated silk fibroin has similar properties of anti enzyme decomposition like buckwheat protein, which has low digestibility with anti-constipation, anti-obesity and anti-tumor effect. So silk fibroin with low digestibility of protein (resistant protein), as a food additive, will help to improve the physiological functions of the intestinal tract, and enhance human health.