Bioregulator
Research Only
Vesugen
Also known as: Vesugen bioregulator, Lys-Glu-Asp, KED peptide
Vesugen is a synthetic tripeptide (Lys-Glu-Asp) from the Khavinson bioregulator research programme, studied in endothelial gene-expression research.
Research overview
Vesugen is a synthetic tripeptide (Lys-Glu-Asp, also written KED; some papers use the code T-38) from Khavinson's short-peptide programme at the St Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology. Its developers describe it as a blood-vessel peptide. Most published work is in cells. In cultures of blood-vessel lining (endothelial) cells it raised levels of Ki-67, a marker of dividing cells (Khavinson et al., 2014), and in lab models of diseased artery lining it changed levels of endothelin-1 and sirtuin-1, proteins linked to vessel function and to the cell's response to DNA damage. In human stem cells grown in the lab it altered the activity of several genes linked to cell ageing (Ashapkin et al., 2020). A few rat studies used accelerated-ageing models. Human reports are small Russian studies in adults without described placebo groups, measuring markers such as biological age or blood flow in 32 to 41 people.
Nearly all studies come from one research network and its partners, and none has been independently repeated. There are no published randomised placebo-controlled trials. How it behaves in the body and long-term safety are not known. Supplied for laboratory research use only.
Mechanism of action
No specific receptor has been identified for Vesugen. In cultured cells it changed levels of proteins such as Ki-67 (a marker of cell division) and endothelin-1, and computer docking by the developers suggests it could bind a DNA sequence in the switch region that controls the Ki-67 gene (Khavinson et al., 2014). The developers propose that it acts by changing gene activity, but this rests on cell culture and modelling, not on direct evidence in animals or people.