A 3-amino-acid tail of the hormone alpha-MSH that calmed colitis and skin inflammation in mice. No human study exists.
Also called Lys-Pro-Val, alpha-MSH (11-13), alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone C-terminal tripeptide, KPV acetate
KPV is three amino acids, lysine, proline and valine, the last three links of alpha-MSH, a 13-amino-acid hormone made in the pituitary and skin. Full alpha-MSH tans the skin and dampens inflammation. In 1989 researchers found the three-amino-acid tail alone reduced skin swelling in mice. Later work found it does not appear to act through the melanocortin receptors that drive tanning, which is why it gets attention for gut and skin problems.
The evidence is mouse and cell work. In mice with chemically induced colitis, KPV in drinking water or packed into colon-targeted nanoparticles cut gut inflammation, weight loss and inflammatory cell counts. In human gut cell lines it blocked the NF-kappaB inflammation switch at nanomolar concentrations, after entering cells through PepT1, a transporter that appears in the colon lining during inflammatory bowel disease. It does not seem to work through the melanocortin receptors that alpha-MSH uses.
No one has published a study of KPV in a single human. FDA reviewers searched in 2026 and found no clinical trials, no case reports, no pharmacokinetic data and no toxicity studies. It is sold as oral capsules, injections and creams anyway. An FDA advisory committee voted 8 to 6 in July 2026 to recommend allowing pharmacies to compound it for wound healing and inflammatory conditions; FDA has not acted on that vote.
What it binds to, and what happens inside the body after that, step by step.
KPV is small enough to be carried into cells by PepT1, the transporter the gut uses to absorb dipeptides and tripeptides. Inside intestinal and immune cells it blocks activation of NF-kappaB and MAP kinase signaling, which lowers production of inflammatory cytokines. Unlike full alpha-MSH, it did not raise cyclic AMP or act through melanocortin receptors in mouse studies. FDA reviewers concluded in 2026 that its molecular targets are still unknown.
Human results and animal results are kept apart below. A result in rats tells you a mechanism is plausible. It does not tell you what happens in a person.
KPV reduced inflammation in mouse colitis, mouse peritonitis and mouse ear-swelling models, sped corneal healing in rabbits, and worked in human cell lines. There is no published human study of any kind. FDA reviewers found no clinical, pharmacokinetic or toxicity data, and a human skin study showed KPV barely passes through intact skin, which undercuts topical creams.
No human studies are among the key studies for KPV. Everything known comes from animals or cells.
Mice with DSS and TNBS colitis, plus human intestinal and T-cell lines
Oral KPV in drinking water reduced colitis and inflammatory cytokine expression; nanomolar KPV blocked NF-kappaB activation via PepT1 uptake.
Read the studyMice with DSS colitis and CD45RBhi transfer colitis, including MC1R-deficient mice
KPV sped weight regain and cut colon inflammation; in mice lacking a working MC1 receptor, KPV rescued all treated animals from death during colitis.
Read the studyMice with DSS colitis
KPV in colon-targeted nanoparticles worked at a concentration 12,000-fold lower than free KPV in solution with similar effect.
Read the studyMice with crystal- and IL-1beta-induced peritonitis
KPV cut white cell influx without raising cyclic AMP or acting through MC1, MC3 or MC4 receptors, pointing to a non-melanocortin mechanism.
Read the studyMice, chemically induced ear swelling
The alpha-MSH(11-13) tripeptide reduced ear swelling in a dose-related way, the first report that it carries anti-inflammatory activity on its own.
Read the studyThese are questions the published research has not answered.
No product containing KPV is approved as a medicine by the FDA.
No approved KPV product exists in any country, EMA lists none, and no KPV trial was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov as of October 2026. WADA does not name KPV, but S0 bans any pharmacological substance with no current approval for human therapeutic use, which covers it.
No human half-life has been published for KPV, so we do not draw a clearance curve. Half-lives quoted online for it are usually estimates from animal data.
No human study or approved label has published a dose for KPV, so there is no table to show.
No dose of KPV has been tested in a published human study or approved on a label. Numbers that circulate online come from animal studies scaled up by guesswork or from sellers. We do not reproduce them.
Which symptoms are expected and which mean stop and get help: side effects and red flags.
Tap a claim to see what the studies found.
KPV reduced chemically induced colitis in mice. It has never been given to a person with IBD, and 'leaky gut' has not been measured in any KPV study.
In mouse studies KPV did not act through melanocortin receptors or raise cyclic AMP, which is how Melanotan tans skin and affects libido. It shares a parent hormone, not the mechanism. No human study has checked KPV for any of these effects.
No human skin trial exists, and a human cadaver skin study found KPV barely gets through the outer layer of intact skin without microneedling or electrical help.
Small size does make toxicity less likely, but FDA found zero toxicity studies and zero human exposure data. 'Probably low risk' has not been tested.
These pairings come up often. Almost none have been tested together in a trial, and the evidence note on each says so plainly.
No published stability data for KPV. Pharmacy practice for lyophilized peptides is cold, dry storage away from light.
No published stability data. Peptide solutions are generally refrigerated at 2 to 8 C with short use-by windows.
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