Tetrapeptide and compositions comprising tetrapeptides

A tetrapeptide, capable of inducing dermal extracellular matrix protein upregulation, selected from the group consisting of tetrapeptides having the amino acid sequence

• U-QTAV-Z
• wherein QTAV is SEQ ID NO:
• 1 and Q is used to denote a Glutamine residue, T is used to denote a Threonine residue, A is used to denote an Alanine residue, and V is used to denote a Valine residue,
• wherein at the N-terminal end, U is independently selected from the group consisting of octanoyl (C8), decanoyl (C10), lauroyl (C12), myristoyl (C14), palmitoyl (C16), stearoyl (C18), biotinoyl, elaidoyl, oleoyl, and lipoyl,
• wherein at the C-terminal end, Z is selected from the group consisting of OH, OR1, NHR1, or NR1R2, wherein R1 and R2 are independently selected from the group consisting of alkyl, aryl, aralkyl, alkylaryl, alkoxy, saccharide, and aryloxy groups, which may be linear, branched, cyclical, polycyclic, unsaturated, hydroxylates, carbonylated, phosphorylated, and/or sulphurous, said R1 and R2 groups comprising from 1 to 24 carbon atoms and being capable of including one or more heteroatoms O, S, and/or N.