Summary
KPV is a three-amino-acid peptide (lysine-proline-valine) that corresponds to the tail end of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone, a hormone involved in pigmentation and in damping inflammation. It is made synthetically. The published research is preclinical: cell culture, mice and rabbits.
What it targets
Work in human intestinal epithelial and T cell lines found that KPV reduced NF-kB and MAP kinase inflammatory signalling and lowered pro-inflammatory cytokine output at nanomolar concentrations, and that it enters cells through PepT1, a transporter for short peptides that is normally found in the small intestine and is induced in the colon during inflammatory bowel disease. In mice, KPV reduced the severity of two chemically induced forms of colitis, and in mice lacking a working melanocortin-1 receptor it still had an effect, which the authors read as partly receptor-independent. A separate line of work in rabbits found that topical KPV closed corneal epithelial wounds faster than vehicle, an effect blocked by inhibiting nitric oxide synthase. No human trial of KPV was found in the literature reviewed for this page.
Clinical Research
Suppliers stocking KPV
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