Livagen

It's like a car-restoration product that made old engine parts look newer on the workbench. That is genuinely interesting, but nobody has put it in a running car to see if the car drives better, or whether anything else breaks.

Livagen is the tetrapeptide Lys-Glu-Asp-Ala (KEDA). Per the Khavinson group, it acts through the short-peptide 'bioregulator' model: it enters cells and the nucleus and loosens tightly packed chromatin (deheterochromatinisation), reactivating genes, including ribosomal genes, that become silenced with age. In liver cells this is reported to boost protein synthesis and support regeneration, and in animal liver-damage models to normalise immune and antioxidant status. In a test tube it also inhibits enzymes in human serum that break down enkephalins (natural opioid peptides), without binding opioid receptors. These effects are shown in cells and animals only, and the direct gene-regulation model is not established outside the originating group.

Research contexts. Not proven uses, and not recommendations.

None in living people. We found no completed, registered or published study that gave Livagen to humans. The 'human' work is in vitro: blood cells (lymphocytes) taken from elderly donors and treated with Livagen in culture, showing loosened chromatin and reactivated genes, and human serum tested in a test tube for enzyme effects. These are cell- and test-tube-level results, not clinical outcomes. The liver findings come from rat cell cultures, rat tissue cultures and animal models of liver damage, nearly all from the Khavinson group and its collaborators. Any claim that it protects or repairs the human liver, or slows human ageing, is unproven.

• !No human efficacy or safety data; the 'human' studies are cells and serum in a dish.
• !Near-total reliance on one research network with little independent replication.
• !It is claimed to reactivate silenced genes; dysregulated gene expression is a feature of cancer, and the long-term effects in people are entirely unknown. This is a theoretical concern, not an observed harm.
• !Sold in the UK as an unlicensed grey-market 'research' peptide labelled not for human use; no identity, purity, sterility or endotoxin guarantees.
• !Self-treating liver problems with an unproven peptide could delay diagnosis and treatment of liver disease.
• !The proposed 'peptide enters the nucleus and directly regulates genes' mechanism is contested and not well established outside the originating group.

Livagen is not a licensed medicine in the UK and holds no MHRA marketing authorisation. It is not an approved or recognised treatment for any liver condition or for ageing, and we found no UK clinical trials of it. In practice it is sold online by 'research peptide' sites as a freeze-dried powder in vials, labelled for research only and not for human consumption. 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 Livagen (KEDA) identified

  PubMed and Europe PMC searches found no study giving Livagen to people. Human-derived data are cells or serum treated in a dish.

1. 01
   [The influence of polypeptide liver complex and tetrapeptide KEDA on organism physiological function in norm and age-related pathology] — Kuznik BI, Khasanova NB, Ryzhak GA, Mezsheriakova IE, Khavinson VK, Advances in Gerontology (Adv Gerontol) (2020)

   Russian-language review from the originating group naming KEDA (Lys-Glu-Asp-Ala) as Livagen; summarises animal and in-vitro liver-damage data alongside the calf-liver extract Ventvil. Review, not new human evidence.

2. 02
   [Rhythm of protein synthesis in cultures of hepatocytes from rats of different ages. Norm and effect of the peptide livagen] — Brodsky VYa, Khavinson VKh, Zolotarev YuA, et al., Izvestiia Akademii Nauk. Seriia Biologicheskaia (2001)

   Rat hepatocyte cultures: Livagen (Lys-Glu-Asp-Ala, synthesised from liver polypeptide analysis) raised protein synthesis, most in cells from old rats. Lab data.

3. 03
   Effects of Livagen peptide on chromatin activation in lymphocytes from old people — Khavinson VKh, Lezhava TA, Monaselidze JG, et al., Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine (2002)

   Lymphocytes from elderly donors treated in culture: ribosomal-gene activation and heterochromatin decondensation. Cells in a dish, not a clinical trial.

4. 04
   [Effect of peptide Livagen on activity of digestive enzymes in gastrointestinal tract and non-digestive organs in rats of different ages] — Timofeeva NM, Khavinson VKh, Malinin VV, Nikitina AA, Egorova VV, Advances in Gerontology (Adv Gerontol) (2005)

   Rat study: Livagen weakly hydrolysed by gut enzymes; two weeks of oral dosing shifted digestive enzyme activity in old rats towards young levels. Animal data.

5. 05
   [Effect of new peptide bioregulators livagen and epitalon on enkephalin-degrading enzymes in human serum] — Kost NV, Sokolov OYu, Gabaeva MV, Zolotarev YuA, Malinin VV, Khavinson VKh, Izvestiia Akademii Nauk. Seriia Biologicheskaia (2003)

   Test-tube study: Livagen inhibited enkephalin-degrading enzymes in human serum but did not bind rat-brain opioid receptors. Not a study in people.

6. 06
   Transport of Biologically Active Ultrashort Peptides Using POT and LAT Carriers — Khavinson V, Linkova N, Kozhevnikova E, Dyatlova A, Petukhov M, International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2022)

   Originating group's modelling paper; its table lists 'Livagen (KEDA), hepatoprotector'. Used for the name-to-sequence match.