Regenerative and protective actions of the GHK-Cu peptide in the light of the new gene data

Review of five decades of research on GHK-Cu, from cell culture through animal models to topical human studies, supplemented by gene expression data from the Connectivity Map dataset.

Key points

• In cell culture GHK-Cu promotes the synthesis of collagen, elastin and glycosaminoglycans.
• Gene expression analyses show broad effects on genes of tissue regeneration, DNA repair and antioxidant systems.
• Human data exist for topical application in cosmetics.

Assessment

Evidence type: preclinical, with limited topical human data. First author Loren Pickart discovered GHK-Cu in 1973; the review should accordingly be read as the developers’ own work. Profile: GHK-Cu.