ImmuneLys-GluKE dipeptide

Vilon (Lys-Glu)

Synthetic Lys-Glu dipeptide · Khavinson 'short peptide bioregulator' · immune / geroprotector claims

Vilon is one of the simplest molecules in this library and one of the most heavily-claimed. Chemically it is just two amino acids — lysine and glutamic acid — joined into a dipeptide (the 'KE' peptide), and that identity is solid: both the name 'Vilon' and the sequence 'Lys-Glu' resolve to the same well-defined chemical record. The trouble is everything that's claimed about it. Vilon is a flagship of the 'short peptide bioregulator' paradigm developed by Vladimir Khavinson and the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology — a school that proposes that very short peptides can slip into cells, reach the nucleus, and switch specific genes on or off, producing tissue-specific 'bioregulation,' immune normalization, and even anti-aging effects. The published literature attributes to Vilon some striking things: regulation of gene transcription, normalization of immune and clotting indices, extension of the number of times a cell can divide ('overcoming the division limit'), and a role in decades-long cancer-prevention programs. The catch — and it is a big one — is that almost all of this evidence comes from a single research school, published largely in Russian-affiliated journals, often in small studies, with essentially no independent Western replication. So the honest framing is precise: Vilon is a genuinely well-characterized little molecule attached to an interesting but single-source, largely unreplicated body of biological claims. The chemistry is real; the bold geroprotective and gene-regulation claims are hypotheses from one paradigm awaiting outside confirmation — not established facts.

The short version

Vilon is about as simple as a peptide gets: two amino acids, lysine and glutamic acid, bonded together — chemists abbreviate it 'KE.' That basic identity is well-established and easy to verify, which sets it apart from some of the murkier 'bioregulator' peptides whose very structure is uncertain. With Vilon, what it is chemically is not in dispute.

What is in dispute is what it does. Vilon comes from a Russian research tradition — the 'short peptide bioregulator' school founded by Vladimir Khavinson in St. Petersburg — that makes a big and unusual claim: that tiny peptides like this can enter cells, reach the DNA, and turn specific genes on or off, thereby 'tuning' how a tissue behaves. On that basis Vilon has been credited with normalizing immune function, improving blood-clotting measures, letting cells divide more times than usual, and contributing to long-running cancer-prevention research.

Here is the essential caveat. Nearly all of those claims come from one research group and its close collaborators, published mostly in Russian-affiliated journals, frequently in small studies, and rarely if ever reproduced by independent laboratories in the West. That doesn't make the claims false — but it does mean they sit far below the bar of 'established science.' The responsible way to read Vilon is: a real, well-defined molecule with an intriguing but single-source and largely unreplicated set of biological claims. Treat the dramatic anti-aging and gene-regulation assertions as hypotheses from one school, not settled fact.

Molecular identity

Specs

Molecular formula: C₁₁H₂₁N₃O₅
Molecular weight: 275.30 g/mol
Monoisotopic mass: 275.1481 Da
CAS / UNII: 45234-02-4 · H34V7IM5ML

Sequence (2 AA): L-Lysyl-L-Glutamic acid (Lys-Glu / KE)PubChem CID 7010502
Structure / class: Synthetic dipeptide; Khavinson 'short peptide bioregulator' / cytogenPubChem CID 7010502; Khavinson program
PubChem CID: 7010502PubChem (name 'Vilon' and 'Lys-Glu' both resolve here)
Water solubility: Freely water-soluble (small, highly polar free-acid dipeptide; reconstituted in bacteriostatic water)Structural inference (ionizable Lys/Glu side chains)
Molecular target: No classic receptor identified; claimed gene-expression / 'peptidergic' regulator (single-school hypothesis)Khavinson-school framework (not independently established)
Half-life: Not established (no published human pharmacokinetics)Not established
Evidence base: Single-school (Khavinson / St. Petersburg); ~74 PubMed records cluster in same author/journal network; minimal independent replicationPubMed (verified PMIDs)
Regulatory status: Not FDA-approved; Russian peptide-bioregulator tradition (synonym 'Normophthal' suggests a registered preparation); current Russian status UNVERIFIEDAbsence of FDA record; PubChem synonyms

Plain English

Mechanism

The mechanism attributed to Vilon is the central thesis of the Khavinson 'short peptide bioregulator' paradigm. The claim is that very short peptides (di-, tri-, and tetrapeptides) can penetrate cells and even the nucleus, bind specific stretches of DNA, and thereby modulate the transcription of particular genes — acting almost like epigenetic-style regulators that selectively switch genes on or off. Vilon (the KE dipeptide) is presented as a thymus-related immunoregulator within that framework.

From this base, the school derives several specific claims for Vilon: that it normalizes immune indices and blood-clotting (hemostasis) measures; that it can extend a cell's proliferative capacity, framed in telomere/telomerase language as 'overcoming the division limit'; and that it modulates the expression of signaling molecules and aging-related genes in cultured cells, including aging mesenchymal stem-cell cultures.

It is important to be clear about the status of all this: these are mechanisms claimed by the originating school, not independently established biology. The notion that a free dipeptide reaches the nucleus and directs gene transcription in a sequence-specific way is a strong claim that mainstream molecular biology has not broadly confirmed. Read the mechanism as the originators' hypothesis, supported mostly by their own work, rather than as accepted fact.

Sources:PMID 14666197 PMID 15455129

Why people reach for it

Potential benefits

Vilon is the immune/thymic dipeptide of the Khavinson short-peptide program — here is what draws people to it, kept honest about a single-source, largely unreplicated evidence base.

The immune slot in a Khavinson longevity stack — Vilon (the KE dipeptide) is the program's designated immune/thymic bioregulator, so people running a tissue-by-tissue protocol reach for it as the immune piece — a positioning within the framework, not a demonstrated human effect.
An immune-normalization research story — The originating school credits it with normalizing immune and blood-clotting indices in clinical reports — which is why it's reached for around immune resilience, though that evidence is small, single-school, and largely unreplicated.
Tied to the school's longevity claims — Vilon carries some of the program's most striking assertions — extending how many times a cell can divide and a role in long-running cancer-prevention work — which is part of its appeal to longevity-minded users, framed strictly as single-paradigm hypotheses.
About as simple a molecule as it gets — It is just two natural amino acids (Lys-Glu) with an unambiguous, easily verified identity — part of the draw is that what it is chemically is not in dispute, even if what it does is.
Short, low-burden, course-based — Run as short pulsed courses rather than continuous use, it asks little of the user and carries no obvious nutrient-depletion cost — appealing within the broader Khavinson protocol.

Sources:PMID 15455129 PMID 18306698 PMID 32399807 PMID 19670728

What people reach for Vilon for, drawn from its positioning and the single-school research — not proven human outcomes or medical claims. The geroprotective and gene-regulation claims are hypotheses from one paradigm, not established facts.

Implied timing

Best time to dose

Implied best time

Anytime (consistent)

Time of day isn't critical for Vilon — pick a consistent daily time within the course and hold it.

Vilon has no published human pharmacokinetics and no half-life on record, so there is no clearance curve to time a dose against — the entire bioregulator model is about short pulsed courses, not maintaining a level at a particular hour.
As an immune/thymic peptide, a mild evening lean is reasonable on the logic that immune consolidation and repair run overnight — but this is a soft rationale, not a Vilon finding, and any consistent time is fine.
If it is stacked with other Khavinson peptides, locking it to the same daily slot is the simplest way to keep a multi-peptide course consistent.

No study establishes an ideal time of day for Vilon — this is reasoned from how it's used and general immune rhythm, not from data. As a rule of thumb most peptide dosing lands in the midday-to-evening window; for Vilon any consistent time works, with at most a mild evening lean.

Sources:PMID 18306698

How to run it

Dosing & protocol

Vilon is dosed here as a subcutaneous injection — the form sold as a research peptide and the route the on-page calculator is built for. No published human dose exists outside the Khavinson research school, so the ranges below are peptide-bioregulator community convention, patterned on how other Khavinson short peptides are run. Read this as a map of how people typically approach injectable Vilon — not a validated prescription.

No established human dose: all dosing evidence is single-school (Khavinson / St. Petersburg), unreplicated outside that network, and Vilon is not an FDA-approved drug. Every number here is community convention extrapolated from the Khavinson paradigm, not a clinical finding.

Dose — no established human dose

Because no independently-verified human dose exists, the figures below follow the Khavinson-bioregulator community convention — the same pattern applied to similar short-peptide bioregulators from the same school.

Conventional range:: 100–1,000 mcg (0.1–1 mg) per injection, most often cited at 100–300 mcg — consistent with microgram-range parenteral dosing described in the Khavinson-school clinical reports. This is convention, not a trial-proven dose.
Route:: Subcutaneous (SubQ) — the standard for research-peptide use in this catalog. The source literature describes intramuscular (IM) injection; SubQ is a common community substitution for user convenience, not a literature finding.
Frequency:: Once daily, consistent with short-peptide bioregulator convention. Some sources describe every-other-day dosing for lower-frequency runs.

Subcutaneous administration

Inject into subcutaneous fat; site rotation and timing are the actionable choices.

Injection site:: The abdomen (a couple of inches clear of the navel), the love-handle area, or the outer thigh. Rotate sites between doses — prevents local irritation and lipohypertrophy (fatty lumps from repeated needle trauma at the same spot).
Measuring the dose:: Drawn on a U-100 insulin syringe from the reconstituted vial. At the default calculator mix (10 mg vial + 2 mL bacteriostatic water = 5,000 mcg per mL): 100 mcg = 2 IU · 200 mcg = 4 IU · 300 mcg = 6 IU. The calculator does this live for any vial size.
Time of day:: No Vilon-specific timing data exists — see Best time to dose above. Time of day isn't critical; consistent timing day-to-day matters more than the specific hour, with at most a mild evening lean on immune-rhythm logic.
Food window:: Subcutaneous injection is not affected by food; dose independently of meals.

Cycle & washout

Khavinson-school bioregulators are run in short, pulsed courses — not continuous use. This is the defining scheduling feature of the entire paradigm.

Course length:: ~10 days of daily injections is the most commonly cited Khavinson-school course pattern. Some practitioners extend to 2–3 weeks.
Washout:: 1–3 months off between courses, then reassess. The long break is structural to the bioregulator paradigm — courses are meant to 'reset' the target tissue, not maintain a constant drug level.
Repeat:: 2–4 courses per year is typical in the Khavinson literature. Running continuous daily Vilon outside course structure is not supported by the paradigm or any other evidence.

Reconstitution at a glance

The on-page calculator does this live; quick reference for the default 10 mg vial at 2 mL bacteriostatic water:

Mixing:: 10 mg vial + 2 mL bacteriostatic water = 5,000 mcg per mL. On a U-100 (100-unit / 1 mL) insulin syringe: 100 mcg = 2 IU · 200 mcg = 4 IU · 500 mcg = 10 IU · 1,000 mcg = 20 IU.
Precision note:: Vilon's conventional doses (100–300 mcg) land on very small syringe volumes at this concentration. If measuring small increments is difficult, dilute to 5 mL instead — that yields 2,000 mcg per mL, and 100 mcg = 5 IU (easier to read on the syringe markings).

Sources:PMID 18306698 PMID 14666197

Substrate the signal needs

Nutritional cofactor precision

Vilon's claimed action is thymus-related immune normalization. These cofactors supply the substrate that immune function — and any thymic-axis peptide — runs on. Think of it as infrastructure: Vilon may or may not do what the Khavinson school claims, but zinc deficiency will blunt immune function regardless. Reasoned from immune biology, not a Vilon cofactor study.

Reasoned from general immune-nutrition biology applied to Vilon's proposed thymic/immune mechanism — not from a Vilon cofactor trial. Supplement doses are standard community ranges.

Amplify — zinc, vitamin D, selenium

The three nutrients most directly tied to thymic T-cell function — the exact target Vilon is said to act on.

Zinc — 15–30 mg/day:: Zinc is essential for thymic hormone production and T-cell maturation; zinc deficiency is one of the most direct ways to impair immune function and shrink thymic output. Protocol: 15–30 mg zinc picolinate or bisglycinate with food. If running >30 mg for more than a few weeks, add 1–2 mg copper bisglycinate to prevent depletion of that paired mineral.
Vitamin D — 2,000–5,000 IU/day:: Vitamin D receptors are on most immune cells; low status is strongly associated with impaired immune defense and poor T-cell activation. Protocol: 2,000–5,000 IU D3 daily with a fat-containing meal, or dose to a measured 25-OH-D blood level in the sufficient range (40–60 ng/mL). Pair with 100–200 mcg vitamin K2 (MK-7) on longer courses to preserve vascular calcium distribution.
Selenium — 100–200 mcg/day:: Selenium is a cofactor for the selenoprotein antioxidant enzymes (glutathione peroxidase, thioredoxin reductase) that immune tissue depends on to manage oxidative stress during an immune response. Protocol: 100–200 mcg selenomethionine daily with food. Stay at or below 200 mcg — selenium has a narrow therapeutic window and chronic high doses are harmful.

Supply — protein, vitamin C

The raw materials immune cells are built from and depend on for function.

Protein — ≥1.2 g/kg body weight/day:: Antibodies, cytokines, and immune cells are proteins. Inadequate intake directly limits immune capacity — a practical first check before adding any peptide. Whole-food protein sources (meat, fish, eggs, legumes) are preferred; leucine-rich sources optimize immune-cell protein synthesis.
Vitamin C — 500–1,000 mg/day:: Vitamin C is actively concentrated inside immune cells (particularly neutrophils and lymphocytes) at levels 10–100× higher than plasma, where it supports proliferation and oxidative-burst function. Protocol: 500–1,000 mg/day in divided doses with meals (split dosing improves absorption vs. a single large dose).

Mitigate — minimal cost, one note

Vilon is two natural amino acids; it carries no obvious nutrient-depletion risk. One practical note applies.

Copper balance on zinc:: If zinc is supplemented at 30 mg or above for more than a few weeks, co-dose 1–2 mg copper bisglycinate to prevent copper depletion. Below 30 mg and for short Vilon-length courses (~10 days), this is usually unnecessary but low-cost to add.
Sleep — not optional:: Immune regulation is tightly coupled to sleep architecture; chronic short sleep suppresses T-cell function and NK-cell activity more reliably than most supplements support them. No cofactor or peptide compensates for a sleep deficit.

Combinations + timing

Stacking notes + timing windows

Vilon is almost always discussed as one member of the Khavinson 'short peptide bioregulator' family — the conventional pairings come from that same single-source world. One more defensible pairing sits outside the Khavinson paradigm: Thymosin Alpha-1, a better-characterized thymic peptide with a separate literature.

Stacking Khavinson-family peptides multiplies the uncertainty rather than reducing it — every partner here is single-school and largely unreplicated, so combining them layers speculation on speculation. The Thymosin Alpha-1 pairing draws on a separate evidence base, but it too has a null headline trial. Neither stack has been studied head-to-head, and no combination has human safety data.

Vilon + Epitalon (Khavinson family — longevity axis)

The most cited Khavinson-school pairing: Vilon on the immune/thymic axis, Epitalon on the pineal/telomerase axis — different tissue targets within the same paradigm.

Why it works (in-paradigm):: The Khavinson school proposes that each short peptide acts on a specific tissue or organ system. Vilon is designated the immune/thymic bioregulator; Epitalon (Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly / AEDG tetrapeptide) is designated the pineal/longevity bioregulator. Combining them is supposed to cover both axes simultaneously — the paradigm's own 'multi-organ stack' concept.
Honesty flag:: This pairing multiplies speculation, not evidence. Epitalon shares Vilon's single-school, largely-unreplicated evidence problem. Stacking two unvalidated compounds from the same research network does not strengthen the case for either — it doubles the un-replicated claims. Treat the combination as paradigm-convention only.
The protocol:: Vilon 100–300 mcg subcutaneously daily for a ~10-day course; Epitalon run on its own conventional course (typically 5–20 mg total over 10–20 days — see the Epitalon page for its own convention ranges). Courses are often run simultaneously or sequentially in the Khavinson literature.
Outcome:: Reached for in longevity-oriented Khavinson-protocol stacks — immune normalization + geroprotection are the stated aims. These are hypotheses from one paradigm, not demonstrated outcomes.

Vilon + Thymosin Alpha-1 (better-characterized thymic partner)

The more defensible immune pairing — Thymosin Alpha-1 has a separate, larger, and partially independent evidence base compared to any Khavinson peptide.

Why it works:: Both target thymic and T-cell immune function, but from different angles and through distinct mechanisms. Thymosin Alpha-1 (Tα1) is a 28-amino-acid thymic peptide with an established human literature in cancer immunotherapy and chronic viral infections — a different level of evidence than Vilon. If Vilon acts on immune normalization at all, pairing it with a better-characterized thymic modulator is more theoretically grounded than stacking within the Khavinson family.
Honesty on both:: Thymosin Alpha-1 is better-characterized than Vilon but not without honesty caveats of its own — its most rigorous clinical trial (randomized, placebo-controlled) was null. See the Thymosin Alpha-1 page for its full evidence picture. This is the more defensible pairing, not a fully validated one.
The protocol:: Vilon 100–300 mcg subcutaneously daily for a ~10-day course; Thymosin Alpha-1 on its own conventional schedule (commonly ~1.5 mg subcutaneously twice weekly). The two can run concurrently since their posited mechanisms operate on different receptors and signaling pathways.
Outcome:: Reached for on immune-support and thymic-function goals where users want a broader evidence base than Vilon alone provides. The Thymosin Alpha-1 component carries that wider literature; Vilon adds its immune-normalization hypothesis.

Reconstitution math

Reconstitution calculator

Calculated for a 1 mL U-100 insulin syringe (100 units/mL).

Peptide per vial

BAC water added

Desired dose

Units per dose

Draw to this mark on a U-100 syringe

Volume per dose: 0.2 mL
Doses per vial: 10
Concentration: 5 mg/mL

One vial lasts

Daily: 10 days
Every other day: 20 days
5×/week: 14 days

Research use only. Not for human consumption. Outputs are reference values based on research literature — verify all measurements independently.

From the studies

Side effects from research

The Khavinson-school literature generally presents Vilon as well tolerated, and as a simple pair of natural amino acids it has no obvious toxicology red flag. No major safety signal is highlighted in the source studies.

That reassurance is heavily limited by the nature of the evidence: the safety claims come from small, single-school studies rather than modern, independent pharmacovigilance, so rare or long-term effects would not necessarily have been detected. There is no large-scale or long-term Western safety database.

Gray-market sourcing adds purity and identity risk separate from the compound. The honest summary: no signal of serious harm in the available reports, but the rigorous, independent safety evidence is thin.

As reported in literature

Research dosing ranges

There is no validated human dosing standard for Vilon outside the originating research school, and no specific dose is asserted here. The table summarizes representative single-school studies and what they claimed — read it as 'these are the claims from one paradigm,' not as established effects. Independent Western replication is essentially absent.

Dose	Route	Model	Outcome	Sources:
Not asserted	In vitro / cell culture	Gene-transcription mechanism study (Khavinson 2003)	Claimed that regulatory short peptides affect gene transcription — the foundational mechanism claim; single-school, not independently confirmed	PMID 14666197
Not asserted	Human somatic cells	Cell division-limit study (Khavinson 2004)	Claimed the peptide promotes 'overcoming of the division limit' in human somatic cells (telomere/division framing) — a striking longevity claim from the originating group	PMID 15455129
Microgram course (IM)	IM (parenteral)	Clinical immune/hemostasis report — diabetes cohort, varied ages (2007)	Claimed normalization of immune status and coagulation hemostasis indices; small, single-school clinical report, exact dosing not verified	PMID 18306698
Not asserted	Cell culture (MSC aging)	Gene-expression study in aging mesenchymal stem-cell cultures (Ashapkin 2020)	Claimed modulation of aging-related gene expression by short peptides; more recent and in a conventional journal, but still Khavinson-authored	PMID 32399807

Quick answers

Frequently asked

What is Vilon, chemically?

It is a synthetic dipeptide — just two amino acids, lysine and glutamic acid, joined together (the 'KE' peptide). Its chemistry is unambiguous: both the name 'Vilon' and the sequence 'Lys-Glu' resolve to the same record (PubChem CID 7010502, C₁₁H₂₁N₃O₅, MW 275.30, CAS 45234-02-4).

Does Vilon really regulate genes or slow aging?

Those are claims from the originating Khavinson research school, not established science. The school proposes that short peptides enter the nucleus and tune gene transcription, and credits Vilon with immune normalization, extended cell division and geroprotection — but this evidence is largely single-source, in Russian-affiliated journals, with little independent replication. Treat it as a hypothesis, not fact.

Why be skeptical if there are dozens of studies?

Because they cluster. PubMed lists roughly 74 Vilon-tagged records, but they come overwhelmingly from one research network (Khavinson and collaborators, St. Petersburg) publishing in the same set of journals. The volume of papers from a single school is not the same as independent confirmation, which is what's missing.

Is there a verified dose?

No. There is no independently-validated human dosing standard for Vilon. The source literature describes short intramuscular microgram-range courses, but exact, reproducible figures weren't verifiable from primary full text — so no dose is asserted here.

Is Vilon approved or banned in sport?

It is not FDA-approved. Its WADA status was not verifiable against the current Prohibited List in our research; it isn't named, but a short peptide with claimed immune/growth-related effects could attract scrutiny by analogy. Athletes should assume risk and check the current WADA list and their anti-doping authority directly.

Primary sources

References

PMID 14666197Khavinson, Shataeva, Chernova, Bull Exp Biol Med 2003 — effect of regulatory peptides on gene transcription (foundational mechanism claim)
PMID 15455129Khavinson, Bondarev, Butyugov, Bull Exp Biol Med 2004 — peptide promotes overcoming of the division limit in human somatic cells
PMID 18306698Effect of Vilon on immune status and coagulation hemostasis in diabetes patients of different age, Adv Gerontol 2007 (Vilon-specific clinical/immune claim)
PMID 32399807Ashapkin, Khavinson, Shilovsky, Mol Biol Rep 2020 — gene expression in human MSC aging cultures modulated by short peptides
PMID 19670728Anisimov, Khavinson, Vopr Onkol 2009 — 35-year review of peptide bioregulators for cancer prevention (source-school summary)
PubChem CID 7010502PubChem record — identity (CID, formula, MW, CAS, sequence; 'Vilon' and 'Lys-Glu' co-resolve)

Research use only · Not medical advice · Updated 2026-06-01