Cardiogen

It's like a new heart supplement whose only reviews come from the factory that makes it, and were written about rats. The factory's results may be genuine, but nobody outside has checked them, and nobody has tried it on a person.

Cardiogen is the tetrapeptide Ala-Glu-Asp-Arg (AEDR). Per the Khavinson group, it is meant to act through the generic short-peptide 'bioregulator' model: the peptide enters cells and the nucleus and interacts with DNA and histones to switch tissue-relevant genes on or off, here in heart muscle, heart fibroblasts and blood-vessel cells. Reported downstream effects are more cell proliferation and less p53 in rat heart explants, more cytoskeletal and nuclear-matrix protein synthesis (actin, tubulin, vimentin, lamins) in mouse fibroblasts, and protection of heart muscle in rat injury models. In-silico modelling suggests it may be carried into cells by amino-acid and peptide transporters (LAT1, LAT2, PEPT1). None of this has been confirmed in humans, and the direct gene-regulation model is not established outside the originating group.

Research contexts. Not proven uses, and not recommendations.

None found. We found no completed, registered or published human trial of Cardiogen (AEDR) for any heart condition or any other outcome, and no human safety or dosing data. The published work is rat heart tissue cultures, a rat sarcoma study, mouse fibroblast cultures and computer modelling, overwhelmingly from the Khavinson group and its affiliates. The most-quoted result, about three times fewer deaths after an induced heart attack in rats, comes from the group's own US patent and is repeated in their review rather than published as an independent peer-reviewed study. Any claim that it protects or repairs the human heart is unproven.

• !No human efficacy or safety data at all; the evidence is rat, cell-culture and computer-modelling work.
• !Near-total reliance on a single research group; the key heart-attack result is patent data, not an independent peer-reviewed study.
• !In rats it slowed a transplanted tumour by damaging its blood supply. That is a reminder it has real biological effects whose consequences in people are unknown, not evidence of a cancer benefit.
• !Sold in the UK as an unlicensed grey-market 'research' peptide (typically a 20 mg freeze-dried vial labelled 'not for human or veterinary use'); no identity, purity, sterility or endotoxin guarantees.
• !Heart symptoms treated with an unproven peptide instead of proper assessment could delay effective care.
• !The proposed 'peptide enters the nucleus and directly regulates genes' mechanism is contested and not well established outside the originating group.

Cardiogen is not a licensed medicine in the UK and holds no MHRA marketing authorisation. It is not an approved or recognised treatment for any heart condition, and we found no UK clinical trials of it. In practice it is sold online by UK 'research peptide' sites as a freeze-dried powder in vials, labelled for laboratory research only and 'not for human or veterinary use'. Selling or supplying it for human use would engage the Human Medicines Regulations 2012, and a UK clinician cannot prescribe it as a recognised therapy.

• · N/A· None found

  No human trials of Cardiogen (AEDR) identified

  PubMed and Europe PMC searches found no human study of Cardiogen. Evidence is rat, cell-culture, patent and modelling data.

1. 01
   Peptide Regulation of Gene Expression: A Systematic Review — Khavinson VK, Popovich IG, Linkova NS, Mironova ES, Ilina AR, Molecules (2021)

   Originating group's review; its peptide table lists 'AEDR, Cardiogen' as a regulator of cardiovascular function. Used here to confirm the name-to-sequence match.

2. 02
   Senescence-Associated Secretory Phenotype of Cardiovascular System Cells and Inflammaging: Perspectives of Peptide Regulation — Khavinson V, Linkova N, Dyatlova A, Kantemirova R, Kozlov K, Cells (2022)

   Originating group's review summarising AEDR data: threefold lower mortality after coronary ligation in rats, smaller necrotic zones, and 2-5-fold more cytoskeletal protein synthesis in mouse fibroblasts. The infarction data are referenced to the group's patent.

3. 03
   Peptide substance restoring myocardium function (US 7,662,789) — Khavinson VK, Ryzhak GA, Grigoriev EI, Ryadnova IY, US Patent (2010)

   Patent for Ala-Glu-Asp-Arg. Describes rat infarction, myocardial dystrophy, toxic damage and arrhythmia models, guinea-pig heart work and toxicity tests. No human trials. A patent, not a peer-reviewed study.

4. 04
   [The effect of the amino acids and cardiogen on the development of myocard tissue culture from young and old rats] — Chalisova NI, Lesniak VV, Balykina NA, et al., Advances in Gerontology (Adv Gerontol) (2009)

   Russian-language rat heart explant study: Cardiogen stimulated cell proliferation in young and old tissue and reduced p53 expression. Lab data.

5. 05
   Tumor-modifying effect of cardiogen peptide on M-1 sarcoma in senescent rats — Levdik NV, Knyazkin IV, Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine (2009)

   Rat study from the St Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology: dose-dependent inhibition of transplanted sarcoma via haemorrhagic necrosis and tumour-cell apoptosis, acting through the tumour's blood vessels. Animal data.

6. 06
   Feasibility of Transport of 26 Biologically Active Ultrashort Peptides via LAT and PEPT Family Transporters — Khavinson VK, Linkova NS, Rudskoy AI, Petukhov MG, Biomolecules (2023)

   Computer docking study including AEDR; suggests it could bind cell transporters. Modelling only.