KPV 10mg Vial

KPV is a synthetic tripeptide: lysine, proline and valine, written Lys-Pro-Val. Those three residues are positions 11 to 13 of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH), the 13-residue melanocortin hormone made from proopiomelanocortin. In other words, KPV is the very end of a much longer signalling peptide, made on its own.

The reason researchers bother with such a small piece is a practical one. Alpha-MSH shows broad anti-inflammatory activity in preclinical work, but it also drives pigment signalling, which muddies any experiment that only cares about inflammation. Reviews of the field describe KPV as keeping part of that anti-inflammatory behaviour while dropping the pigmentary action. That makes it a convenient tool compound for inflammation biology.

It is important to be clear about the evidence. Nearly all of it comes from cultured cells and mouse colitis models, with some skin-cell work. No KPV-specific Phase 2 or Phase 3 trial was found on clinicaltrials.gov when our research team last checked, and KPV is not an approved medicine anywhere. Nothing on this page describes an effect in people.

What Remy Research sells here is the dry ProPeptide powder in a crimp-sealed vial, intended for the laboratory alone. For research use only. Not for human or veterinary use.

Before you order research material, it helps to know exactly what arrives and what paperwork exists for it.

Freeze-dried powder in sealed glass

Each vial contains 10mg of lyophilised KPV under a crimp cap. A short peptide kept dry and cold is far more stable in storage than one held in solution, which is why the sealed powder vial remains the usual format for this kind of material.

A line standard, not a batch report

ProPeptide manufactures its KPV line against a ≥99% HPLC purity specification. A third-party certificate for an individual batch of this vial has not been released yet, and we do not suggest otherwise. To see which products do have one, browse our lab results library.

Reading a certificate when one exists

An HPLC trace shows purity, while a mass-spec result is what proves identity. For KPV the free-base mass is small, about 342.4 g/mol, so a salt form such as acetate will read noticeably heavier. For a line-by-line walkthrough of a certificate, see our COA and HPLC purity guide.

Kept at 2–8°C on the way to you

Insulated cold-chain packing holds the parcel at 2–8°C in transit. Inside Dubai, anything ordered before the 4 PM cut-off is delivered that day, usually within about 4 hours. Terms for the other emirates are on the delivery page.

The mechanism of KPV is not settled. The published picture involves more than one pathway, and almost all of it comes from cell and rodent experiments, so read the points below as working hypotheses rather than established biology in people.

Inflammatory signalling inside the cell

The most cited paper, Dalmasso and colleagues in *Gastroenterology* (2008), reported that nanomolar KPV damped NF-κB reporter activity and MAP-kinase signalling in human intestinal epithelial cell lines and in Jurkat T cells challenged with inflammatory cytokines, with lower cytokine output downstream.

Entry through the PepT1 transporter

The same group showed that KPV is carried into intestinal and immune cells by PepT1, a proton-coupled transporter for di- and tripeptides. PepT1 is scarce in healthy colon but rises in chronically inflamed colon, which the authors put forward as a reason KPV might concentrate where inflammation is active. That idea still needs testing.

Mouse colitis models

In mice with chemically induced (DSS and TNBS) colitis, KPV-treated animals showed lower disease activity scores, less tissue inflammation and reduced cytokine mRNA. A second 2008 study, by Kannengiesser and colleagues, saw earlier recovery in DSS colitis and similar results in a T-cell transfer colitis model. A 2026 paper described a colon-targeted prodrug version, proKPV, that built up in inflamed mouse colon at several times the level of free KPV.

A role beyond MC1R

Kannengiesser's group repeated the DSS work in mice lacking a working melanocortin-1 receptor, and KPV still protected them. The authors concluded the effect is at least partly independent of MC1R, which fits the intracellular signalling picture above.

Skin-cell work

A 2025 keratinocyte study reported that Lys-Pro-Val reduced oxidative stress, cell death and inflammatory signalling triggered by fine-dust exposure. This is cell-culture evidence only.

Our KPV research review covers these papers and the gaps between them in more depth.