Vilon

Areas of active research — not promised effects

Each tag links to other compounds with research into that goal. Research use only: these are areas of study, not human-use claims.

Related by research scope · open each to compare

Vilon is not FDA-approved for any indication and does not appear on the FDA 503A Bulks List permitting compounding pharmacies to prepare it for patient dispensing. Unlike some peptides flagged in the 2019 FDA policy update, Vilon carries fda19=false, meaning it was not explicitly placed on the Category 2 restricted list at that time. However, without an affirmative 503A or 503B listing, it cannot be legally compounded for human therapeutic use. It may be sourced solely for legitimate laboratory research purposes.

Transparent blend · bci-1.0 · never paid-placement

Primary name

Vilon

Origin

Vilon is a two-amino-acid synthetic peptide (L-Lys-L-Glu) developed by Vladimir Khavinson's group at the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology. Its sequence was derived from thymalin, a polypeptide extract of bovine thymus tissue historically used in Soviet immunological and gerontological medicine. Vilon is the synthetic analog designed to represent the putative bioactive core of that natural extract.

Registry IDs

PubChem CID

7010502

CAS

45234-02-4

InChIKey

UGTZHPSKYRIGRJ-YUMQZZPRSA-N

ChEMBL

CHEMBL365790

Molecular formula

C11H21N3O5

Molar mass

275.30 g/mol

Monoisotopic

275.14812078 Da

InChIKey

UGTZHPSKYRIGRJ-YUMQZZPRSA-N

Appearance

White to off-white lyophilized powder

Solubility

Freely soluble in water; soluble in dilute aqueous buffers; limited solubility i…

Sequence not available in current seed.

Stability: A simple dipeptide with no disulfide bonds; relatively stable as a lyophilized powder. Once reconstituted, susceptible to dipeptidase activity. Acid/base hydrol

Vial sizes

20 mg · 50 mg

Purity grades

≥98% HPLC / ≥99% HPLC

Salt forms

Free base (primary)

• GHS hazard class on file
• PPE & spill response
• Disposal guidance
• Not-for-human-consumption posture

How much research exists, and of what maturity — never a verdict on whether it works.

Mechanism of action

• Vilon has been shown in cell culture studies to increase IL-2 mRNA expression in lymphocytes, promoting T-cell proliferative signaling
• In aging human mesenchymal stem cells, the peptide upregulated SIRT1 gene expression and protein synthesis while suppressing PARP1 and PARP2, effects attributed to direct interaction with gene-promoter DNA sequences (PMID 37782636)
• Additional in vitro work demonstrates that Vilon induces deheterochromatinization — progressive decondensation of facultative heterochromatin — in lymphocytes from elderly donors, consistent with an epigenetic mechanism that partially reverses age-related chromatin silencing (PMID 37042594)
• In human monocytic cell lines, Vilon reduced LPS-stimulated TNF-α and IL-6 production and modulated tyrosine phosphorylation of mitogen-activated kinases, indicating anti-inflammatory as well as immunomodulatory properties (PMID 35408963)

Pharmacokinetics (ADME)

Half-life

No formal pharmacokinetic study identified; estimated minutes-range plasma half-life based on dipeptide class characteristics and rapid proteolytic degradation

Clearance

Rapid renal and proteolytic clearance expected; no formal clearance data available

PK–PD note: As a simple dipeptide, Vilon is expected to be subject to rapid degradation by circulating dipeptidases and renal filtration. Sustained biological effects reported in animal studies may reflect downst…

Reading the evidence

• Evidence quality and gaps vary by application — see the cited grades above.
• Indexed-article counts span all evidence tiers, not only completed human trials.
• No first-party human-dosing, efficacy, or benefit claims are made here.

Key reviews & evidence-gap sources

• Khavinson, Popovich, Linkova, Mironova & Ilina 2021 — 'Peptide Regulation of Gene Expression: A Systematic Review' (Molecules 26(22):7053, PMID 34834147) — Primary source for the KE/Vilon–TCGA DNA-binding motif and H1/H2B/H3/H4 histone-binding claims. [Verification: IN SILICO ONLY — the TCGA/APG5L binding is molecular-modeling / ligand-docking (ICM-Pro), NOT confirmed by X-ray/cryo-EM/NMR; the histone-H1 'chromatin-loosening' step is a modeling interpretation reported separately from the APG5L docking, not a demonstrated event. Khavinson-lab self-review. Present as a PROPOSED epigenetic mechanism, not an established one.]
• Khavinson, Kuznik & Ryzhak 2013 — 'Peptide bioregulators: the new class of geroprotectors. Message 2. Clinical studies results' (Adv Gerontol 26(1):20-37, PMID 24003726) — Self-review aggregating decades of Russian open clinical use across seven bioregulators (incl. Vilon); not a modern blinded/randomized-trial compilation.
• Khavinson, Kuznik & Ryzhak 2012 — 'Peptide bioregulators: the new class of geroprotectors. Message 1. Results of experimental studies' (Adv Gerontol 25(4):696-708, PMID 23734519) — Companion experimental (preclinical) review to PMID 24003726; same lab.
• Khavinson & Anisimov 2000 — 'A synthetic dipeptide vilon (L-Lys-L-Glu) inhibits growth of spontaneous tumors and increases life span of mice' (Dokl Biol Sci, PMID 10944717) — Foundational lifespan/tumor-incidence finding in inbred CBA mice from the originating lab; not independently replicated. [Verification: the abstract-less indexed record does NOT state the route of administration — the earlier 'subcutaneous' descriptor was unverifiable from this source and is dropped. RUO — preclinical rodent data, NOT evidence of human anti-cancer or longevity efficacy.]
• Anisimov, Khavinson et al. 2002 — Vilon vs Epitalon on spontaneous mammary tumors in HER-2/neu transgenic mice (Int J Cancer 101(1):7-10, PMID 12209581, DOI 10.1002/ijc.10570) — [Verification: confirmed against the primary record (PubMed/CrossRef; the Wiley abstract URL 402-paywalls, so PMID 12209581 is cited).] In female FVB/N HER-2/neu mice given 1 µg/mouse SC for 5 days/month from age 2 months, the VILON arm showed increased mammary-cancer incidence, shorter tumor latency and increased cumulative tumor number vs saline (each p<0.05), while Epitalon was protective. A genuine animal-model oncogenicity signal — transgenic-mouse only, NO human correlate claimed; must not be extrapolated to humans (RUO). Note the paper title names only Epitalon; Vilon is a distinct comparator arm.
• Avolio, Martinotti, Khavinson et al. 2022 — Peptides & proliferative/inflammatory pathways in the THP-1 monocyte/macrophage line (Int J Mol Sci 23(7):3607, PMID 35408963) — One of the few Vilon (labeled 'P2'/KE) papers with non-Russian (Italian) co-authors. Human THP-1 cell-line in vitro; found only a small modulatory effect on ERK1/2 phosphorylation — a modest result worth weighing against the lab's larger claims.
• Kuznik et al. 2007 — Vilon effect on immunity and coagulation hemostasis in elderly type-1-diabetic patients (Adv Gerontol, PMID 18306698) — Human clinical study (open, add-on to standard therapy): reported optimized coagulation (↑antithrombin III, ↑protein C) and, in most cases, a reduced insulin dose. Not a registered/blinded RCT and not on ClinicalTrials.gov — does not count toward completedHumanRcts.
• Kuznik BI et al. 2006 — Vilon effect on blood coagulation in type-1 diabetes of various ages (Adv Gerontol 19:107-15, PMID 17152731) — [Verification: carries a genuine NLM MEDLINE 'Randomized Controlled Trial' publication-type tag (confirmed in the raw MEDLINE record), BUT the abstract describes no randomization/blinding/placebo, the full text is Russian-only and inaccessible, and no NCT registration exists. NLM RCT tagging is unreliable for older non-English records — cite as a small 2006 Russian-language clinical study whose RCT rigor cannot be independently verified; NOT a confirmed modern RCT and NOT human-efficacy evidence.]

No registered human trials found for this compound.

Status

No registered trials found

Summary (literature)

Published animal toxicology from Khavinson's group over several decades reports no serious adverse events in murine and rodent models administered Vilon chronically. Limited human data from small Soviet and Russian clinical programs (largely in elderly subjects) report no signifi…

WADA status

Not specifically listed on the WADA 2026 Prohibited List. No Khavinson thymic bioregulator appears by name on the current prohibited list. However, if claims of…

Dominant research route: The identified primary literature on Vilon is exclusively rodent (Wistar / aged-rat / CBA-mouse models) and splits across three routes with NO pharmacokinetic/bioavailability study for any of them: subcutaneous (renal-failure model), intraperitoneal (stress-resistance/behavioral model), and oral/per os (two companion papers on local small-intestine enzyme activity and nutrient transport in aged rats). No intramuscular, intravenous, intranasal or topical study, and no dedicated PK (absorption, half-life, bioavailability) study of Vilon itself, was located in any species or route. Human-use claims (capsule, sublingual, pre-mixed pen) appear only on vendor/marketing pages, not in primary literature, and are omitted per the citation firewall.

Studied in a rat experimental chronic-renal-failure model; animal-only, single study identified.

Bioavailability: No published PK/bioavailability data (absorption rate, half-life) for SC Vilon in any species. The cited study measured a downstream biomarker (serum TGF-β1) and microvessel permeability, not Vilon's own plasma kinetics.

SC injection of Vilon reduced serum TGF-β1 and mesenteric microvessel permeability in rats with experimental chronic renal failure, described by the authors as a 'homeostatic effect' in the early disease period. Preclinical rat model only; no human dosing implied.

Studied in male Wistar rats in an emotional-stress-resistance model (open-field behavior, hypothalamic c-Fos, adrenal/thymus/plasma-albumin measures); animal-only.

Bioavailability: No dedicated IP PK characterization; IP was a dosing route in a behavioral/physiological study, not a PK study.

IP Vilon was reported to increase rats' behavioral resistance to emotional stress (open-field indices), inhibit adrenal hypertrophy and thymic involution, and raise plasma albumin, with fewer stress-related Fos-positive neurons in the paraventricular hypothalamus. A laboratory-animal route in a preclinical stress model; no human protocol implied.

Studied in aged Wistar rats dosed per os for 1 month across two companion papers examining small-intestine transport and enzyme activity; animal-only. No human oral study or oral PK study found.

Bioavailability: Both cited studies examined LOCAL small-intestine effects (glucose/glycine absorption of gut segments; maltase, alkaline phosphatase, glycyl-L-leucine dipeptidase activity), not the systemic absorption or plasma levels of Vilon itself. No study quantifying Vilon's own oral bioavailability in any species was found.

One-month oral dosing in aged rats was associated with increased small-intestine digestive-enzyme activity and altered glucose/glycine transport across gut segments, framed by the authors as improved intestinal trophic/barrier function in aging animals. This describes LOCAL gastrointestinal pharmacology, not a human oral-use protocol or demonstrated systemic absorption.

Animal & human figures are kept visibly separate so studied animal doses are never misread as human guidance.

Sorted A–Z by vendor — never by price

Weekly median $/mg from the live vendor crawl.

Researched storefront prices, bucketed

p25 $2.87 · median $3.15 · p75 $3.70 · 13 researched vendors

Value rule: don't just buy the cheapest — a price under $3/mg is a red flag. Pair price with COA and independent-test grade.

Estimated cost of research (10 mg)

Vial (best researched price)

$20

Bacteriostatic water (generic estimate)

$6

Syringes / supplies (generic estimate)

$12

What each test proves — general guidance, plus this compound's researched purity data

Purity on the current market (researched)

No independent aggregate purity survey (Finnrick, MZ Biolabs, or similar random-sample program) covers Vilon — those investigations sample only the highest-volume peptides (BPC-157, semaglutide, TB-500, CJC-1295, GHK-Cu), and Vilon is outside that set (verified: Finnrick's indexed products / free-test roster exclude Vilon). Individual vendor-published, Janoshik-tested single-batch COAs report ~99.5–99.9% HPLC purity (e.g. Verified Peptides' Nov 18 2025 batch #12-25-0220B at 99.813%), but these are vendor-selected single-batch reports, NOT an independent random-sample survey — read as vendor-reported, not a verified market-wide range.

Independent labs cited for this compound

No FDA recall, warning letter, DOJ press release, or import-alert action naming Vilon SPECIFICALLY was found in a 2023–2026 search of the openFDA drug-enforcement database, the Federal Register API, and FDA warning-letter listings. [Verification: adversarial refutation FAILED — the negative holds across all authoritative primary sources; the only 'vilon' string hit anywhere was a coincidental 2015 Taiwan adverse-event report, not an enforcement action.] This is absence of evidence, NOT a regulatory clearance: as an unapproved RUO compound Vilon may still be swept by category-level peptide import/enforcement actions that do not name it individually.

Buyer red-flag checklist

• No batch-specific COA provided on request, or COA offered only as a generic/template image reused across products (community rule: assume underdosed or substituted).
• COA report/verification code does not resolve in the testing lab's own public database (janoshik.com/verify for Janoshik reports) — a common fabricated- or edited-certificate signal.
• Batch/lot number on the vial doesn't match the batch printed on the COA (a single 'showcase' COA reused across unrelated batches).
• Purity-only COA with no LC-MS identity confirmation — can't rule out a wrong-compound substitution.
• No endotoxin (LAL) or sterility data disclosed for a product implied for injection.
• Identical 99.9%-purity claims across every SKU in a catalog, or price far below the market range for comparable bioregulator dipeptides — both consistent with diluted/off-spec product.
• Human-dosing or benefit marketing on a 'research use only' site — the pattern that has drawn FDA's recent warning-letter waves against RUO peptide sellers generally.

GMP vs research-grade: the chemistry (SPPS + HPLC + MS) is identical — the difference is the quality system.

Underdosing / mislabeling: No independent random-sample testing program has published Vilon-specific underdosing or mislabeling data as of Jul 2026 — coverage of bioregulator dipeptides like Vilon is far thinner than for high-volume peptides. A general market-wide estimate (roughly a third of research-grade peptides across all compounds failing label claim in tiered vendor investigations) is sometimes cited, but that figure is not Vilon-specific and is left null here rather than interpolated.

• Vilon carries no FDA approval and no compound-specific import alert of its own. It falls under the general Import Alert 66-41 framework ('Detention Without Physical Examination of Unapproved New Drugs Promoted In The U.S.'), which authorizes FDA/CBP to detain unapproved-new-drug peptide imports at the border under the 'appears-to-violate' standard (FD&C Act §801) without opening or testing each shipment. [Verification vs the primary FDA page: the alert's guidance section was revised 05/19/2026 (per the alert's Reason-for-Alert note), and the page's Published Date is now 07/15/2026 (a later Red List firm addition) — 'Vilon' appears 0 times. This is the same general framework applied to nearly all unapproved research peptides, NOT a Vilon-specific listing.] An RUO label is not an import exemption — FDA/CBP judge actual marketed and intended use.66-41 (unapproved new drugs)
• An RUO label is not an import exemption — CBP judges actual intended use.
• Lyophilized powder is ambient-stable in transit; temperature control needed for > 7-day transit.
• US-warehouse vendors dodge import scrutiny — they cost more but ship more reliably.

Every item dated & sourced

Vilon is NOT named by substance on the WADA 2026 Prohibited List (a full-text search of the official PDF finds no 'Vilon' / 'Khavinson' / 'Lys-Glu' occurrence, and it is absent from every S2 sub-class). [Verification: the 'S2' characterization that circulates in vendor material is unsupported — if covered at all, Vilon falls only under S0 (Non-Approved Substances), the open-ended catch-all that expressly lists BPC-157, banning any pharmacological substance with no current governmental regulatory approval for human therapeutic use.] S0 applicability is not automatic — it requires no approval by ANY government, and Vilon is reportedly registered in Russia — so this states only that Vilon is not a named/scheduled WADA substance and is not independently WADA-monitored, NOT that it is definitively prohibited. No confirmed anti-doping case involving Vilon was found; athletes should seek sport-specific guidance from their ADO.

No granted patents identified in current seed. Composition-of-matter coverage is limited given the peptide's synthetic origin.

• IACUC / IRB research context
• RUO buyer responsibilities & documentation
• Veterinary / alternative-use where lawful
• Jurisdiction-aware "who may lawfully obtain"

What people discuss

Reported concerns — discussion, not established effects

Reading caveats

• Very thin discourse volume — a niche Khavinson bioregulator; only a handful of identifiable peer-to-peer threads were found, so the sample is small and noisy
• Reddit / Bluesky / X presence could not be confirmed for this compound this pass — platforms[] reflects only what was actually verified (YouTube)
• Vendor/influencer YouTube content ('better than BPC-157', 'miracle healing') dominates search visibility and reads far more positive than the organic peer discussion found
• SEO 'benefits and dosage guide' vendor/aggregator blog content heavily pollutes any organic-discourse read and was excluded from the tone read where identifiable
• A single 2002 HER-2/neu transgenic-mouse cancer-risk study circulates in forum safety debates disproportionate to its niche, animal-only, 20-year-old nature
• Small-N anecdote bias — one detailed self-report (no benefit + brain fog/tinnitus) and one reassurance reply account for most of the substantive experiential content found

Manually researched from youtube— theme weights are research estimates, not live counts; aggregated & de-identified. No individual posts, quotes, or usernames are ever shown.

Relative research / market volume — populated once the activity stream is wired

Inline tooltips for lyophilized, RUO, EU/mg, SPPS, 503A and more.

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• How to read a COA
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• Understanding evidence grades

Synthetic dipeptide Lys-Glu (KE) derived from thymus extract; studied in preclinical models for immune regulation and epigenetic geroprotection. Approximately 67 articles are indexed (literature last scanned 2026-05-29). US regulatory status: Research Use Only; not on FDA 503A Bulks List; not FDA-19 restricted. Research use only.

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