Short-peptide research

Vilon Research: The Lys-Glu Dipeptide and What Studies Examined

Vilon is the two-residue member of the Khavinson short-peptide family, and it carries the largest primary literature of the group. That is a relative statement: the corpus is still narrow, still concentrated in one research network, and still without an independently replicated trial. This page states what the studies measured and where they stop. Read it alongside the peptide bioregulator overview, which covers the family’s evidence problems in full.

RESEARCH USE ONLY. Cellworks supplies compounds strictly for in-vitro laboratory research. Nothing on this page is a medical, efficacy, or dosing claim, and no product is for human or veterinary use.

Reviewed by Jason Fleming — Biochemistry consultant, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.Last reviewed: 2026-07-22

What is Vilon?

What is Vilon? It is a synthetic dipeptide — two amino acids, lysine and glutamic acid, written Lys-Glu or KE. At that size it is among the smallest molecules anywhere in peptide research; for comparison, BPC-157 is fifteen residues and LL-37 is thirty-seven. The public chemical record lists it under CID 7010502 with the synonyms “Peptide vilon” and “AB-0 peptide”, the latter being the internal laboratory code used in some of the group’s own papers.

Its origin follows the family pattern described on the overview page: a defined short sequence synthesised in the lineage of an earlier thymus-derived peptide preparation, and assigned by its developers a nominal designation — in Vilon’s case, immunoprotector. That designation is the developers’ label, not a conclusion of an independent literature.

Reference data

Identity and form only, from the public chemical record (PubChem CID 7010502).

Property	Value
Peptide class	Dipeptide (2 residues)
Sequence	Lys-Glu (KE)
Also known as	Vilon, KE peptide, AB-0 peptide
Molecular formula	C₁₁H₂₁N₃O₅
Molecular weight	≈ 275.31 g/mol
CAS number	45234-02-4
Physical form	Lyophilized powder
Storage	Kept cold and dry as supplied; protected from light

No handling quantity, reconstitution procedure or route is given or implied.

What the literature has examined

Each item below names what a study investigated, in the model it used. None is an outcome in a person.

Rodent lifespan and spontaneous tumours — Khavinson & Anisimov (2000, Dokl Biol Sci, PMID 10944717) and Khavinson et al. (2000, Bull Exp Biol Med, PMID 11140587) examined subcutaneous administration to female CBA mice from six months of age, reporting increased lifespan and reduced spontaneous neoplasm development. The second paper also reports what did not change — oestrous function and free-radical parameters were unaffected.
Chemically induced carcinogenesis — Pliss et al. (2001, Bull Exp Biol Med, PMID 11586406) examined rat urinary-bladder tumours induced with N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl)nitrosamine, reporting tumours in 56% of treated animals versus 75.5% of controls.
Chromatin condensation in donor lymphocytes — Lezhava et al. (2004, Biogerontology, PMID 15105581) examined heterochromatin in cultured lymphocytes from elderly donors, reporting decondensation of facultative but not pericentromeric heterochromatin.
Immune-cell assays — Khavinson et al. (2002, Bull Exp Biol Med, PMID 12420072) examined thymocyte blast transformation and sphingomyelinase activity, reporting Vilon as the most potent of the three peptides tested and Cortagen as inactive in the same assay.
Gene expression in ageing cell culture — Ashapkin et al. (2020, Mol Biol Rep, PMID 32399807) examined IGF1, FOXO1, TERT, TNKS2 and NF-κB expression in ageing human mesenchymal stem cells; Khavinson et al. (2023, Adv Gerontol, PMID 37782636) examined SIRT1, PARP1 and PARP2 in the same model.

Evidence status — what is not established

Vilon has the deepest record in its family and it is still a narrow one. Every study above sits in a rodent or a cell culture, and every one lists Khavinson or a direct collaborator among its authors. The mouse lifespan reports are from 2000 and, as far as indexed sources show, have not been replicated by an independent laboratory in the quarter-century since — which for a lifespan claim is the single most important missing piece, because rodent lifespan studies are notoriously sensitive to husbandry, diet and cohort effects.

What is not established: any effect in humans; any mechanism connecting the reported chromatin changes to the reported organism-level endpoints; and the “immunoprotector” designation itself, which describes the developers’ intent rather than an independently demonstrated property. Nothing on this page is a claim about what this compound does in a person, and none of the work above supports one. See the family overview for the full account of why this corpus is difficult to audit.

How to verify this compound yourself

For a dipeptide, mass spectrometry carries most of the analytical weight — the measured mass should match the expected ≈ 275 Da, which is what distinguishes Lys-Glu from the closely related tripeptides in the same family such as Vesugen (KED, ≈ 390 Da). HPLC purity is reported as a percentage, though a two-residue synthesis has few opportunities to accumulate deletion sequences, so a high figure is less diagnostic here than on a long peptide. See how to read a COA and how to verify peptide purity, and check a specific batch on the verify tool.

Research-grade sourcing and verification

Vilon is not held in stock. It is listed on our sourcing catalogue as available to order — our supplier lists it, we have not bought it, and material of this kind typically takes about two to three weeks to reach us. For laboratory research use only, it is supplied with a per-batch Certificate of Analysis reporting HPLC purity (%) and mass-spec identity confirmation. Related pages in this family: the bioregulator overview, Cortagen, Vesugen, Crystagen and Epitalon. This is sourcing and quality-assurance framing only.

Peptide bioregulators overview Sourcing catalogue

Verify a batch

Every order ships with a per-batch Certificate of Analysis. Have a vial in hand? Enter its lot number to look up the COA for that exact batch.

Verify a batch →How to read a COA

Frequently asked questions

What is Vilon?

Vilon is a synthetic dipeptide, Lys-Glu (KE) — just two amino acids. It is one of the short "peptide bioregulators" developed by V. Kh. Khavinson and colleagues at the St Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology, and it appears in the literature under the code AB-0 as well as under its trade name.

What is the KE peptide?

KE is the one-letter shorthand for the same molecule — Lys (K) and Glu (E). "Vilon", "KE peptide" and "Lys-Glu" all name the same dipeptide, and recent papers from the originating group tend to use "KE" rather than the trade name.

What did the Vilon studies actually measure?

Predominantly rodent and cell-culture endpoints: lifespan and spontaneous tumour incidence in CBA mice, chemically induced urinary-bladder carcinogenesis in rats, chromatin condensation state in cultured lymphocytes from elderly donors, and expression of genes such as SIRT1, PARP1, PARP2, IGF1 and FOXO1 in ageing human mesenchymal stem cell cultures.

Is there human clinical evidence for Vilon?

No independently replicated randomised controlled trial of Vilon was located in indexed sources. Human work in the corpus is small, open-label and from the originating institutional network, and the cultured-lymphocyte studies use cells from elderly donors rather than treating people.

Literature cited

Khavinson VKh, Anisimov VN. “A synthetic dipeptide vilon (L-Lys-L-Glu) inhibits growth of spontaneous tumors and increases life span of mice.” Dokl Biol Sci. 2000;372:261–263. PMID 10944717. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10944717.
Khavinson VK, Anisimov VN, Zavarzina NY, et al. “Effect of vilon on biological age and lifespan in mice.” Bull Exp Biol Med. 2000;130(7):687–690. PMID 11140587. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11140587.
Pliss GB, Mel’nikov AS, Malinin VV, Khavinson VKh. “Inhibitory effect of peptide vilon on the development of induced rat urinary bladder tumors in rats.” Bull Exp Biol Med. 2001;131(6):558–560. PMID 11586406. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11586406.
Lezhava T, Khavison V, Monaselidze J, et al. “Bioregulator Vilon-induced reactivation of chromatin in cultured lymphocytes from old people.” Biogerontology. 2004;5(2):73–79. PMID 15105581. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15105581.
Khavinson VKh, Rybakina EG, Malinin VV, et al. “Effects of short peptides on thymocyte blast transformation and signal transduction along the sphingomyelin pathway.” Bull Exp Biol Med. 2002;133(5):497–499. PMID 12420072. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12420072.
Ashapkin V, Khavinson V, Shilovsky G, Linkova N, Vanyushin B. “Gene expression in human mesenchymal stem cell aging cultures: modulation by short peptides.” Mol Biol Rep. 2020;47(6):4323–4329. PMID 32399807. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32399807.
Khavinson VK, Linkova NS, Ashapkin VV, et al. “KE peptide regulates SIRT1, PARP1, PARP2 gene expression and protein synthesis in human mesenchymal stem cells aging.” Adv Gerontol. 2023;36(3):302–312. PMID 37782636. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37782636 (Russian-language; English abstract only was available for this page).
National Center for Biotechnology Information. “PubChem Compound Summary for CID 7010502, Lys-Glu.” pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/7010502 (formula, mass, CAS 45234-02-4, synonyms).

RESEARCH USE ONLY — NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. All products are sold strictly for in-vitro laboratory research and are not intended for human or veterinary use, ingestion, or administration. Nothing on this page is a medical or efficacy claim. You must be 21 or older to browse this catalog.