SLU-PP-332

THR-123 is a small synthetic 16-residue cyclic peptide designed to mimic part of the protein BMP7 (bone morphogenetic protein 7) and switch on its receptor, ALK3, in the kidney. It was developed by Thrasos Therapeutics and made famous by a 2012 Nature Medicine paper showing that, taken orally, it could reverse kidney fibrosis and trigger kidney regeneration in mice. It is a preclinical research compound with no human trials of its own, though its intravenous sibling THR-184 reached Phase 2 for acute kidney injury.

Pancragen is a synthetic tetrapeptide bioregulator, Lys-Glu-Asp-Trp (KEDW), from the Khavinson group, designed to target pancreatic tissue. It is studied for supporting blood-sugar control and the insulin-producing endocrine pancreas, especially in aging. It is a research compound with no approval and no published human clinical trials. The notable evidence comes from aged primates, not people.

MOTS-c is a 16-amino-acid peptide your own mitochondria make, encoded inside the 12S rRNA region of mitochondrial DNA and discovered in 2015. It is studied as a metabolic regulator and a so-called exercise mimetic, because its levels rise when you work out and it improves insulin sensitivity in animals. The catch: the impressive results are almost entirely in mice, with no completed published human efficacy trials.

Humanin is a 24-amino-acid peptide encoded inside mitochondrial DNA (in the 16S rRNA gene), discovered in 2001 and named for its ability to protect human neurons from Alzheimer-related cell death. It was the first member of the mitochondrial-derived peptide family and is studied mainly for neuroprotection, cell survival, and metabolic and age-related disease. The honest status: it has the deepest preclinical evidence base of any mitochondrial peptide, but human therapeutic trials are essentially absent.

Livagen is a synthetic tetrapeptide (Lys-Glu-Asp-Ala, or KEDA) from the family of short "peptide bioregulators" developed by Vladimir Khavinson's group in St. Petersburg, marketed in connection with liver and immune function. The proposed appeal is epigenetic: it has been reported to loosen tightly packed chromatin in aged cells, supposedly switching age-silenced genes back on. Evidence is limited to small laboratory and cell studies, mostly from one research group, with no clinical trials, so claims should be read with heavy skepticism.

PNC-27 is a 32-amino-acid lab-designed peptide that fuses a fragment of the tumor-suppressor protein p53 (residues 12 to 26) to a membrane-penetrating leader sequence. The interesting claim is that it kills cancer cells while leaving normal cells alone, by punching holes in the cancer cell membrane. It is a research compound only, with no approval and no human clinical trials.