The reading list
Research bibliography
The original titles are gathered below. Some describe people receiving treatment; others describe cells, animals or pieces of skin.
Starting points
For the fatty branch that opens this bulletin, start with Safety of Semaglutide. The weight and organ-outcome trials then ask what happened in defined groups of people.
The GHK skin-regeneration review introduces the copper chemistry. The KPV review follows the hormone fragment, and the BPC-157 clinical review surveys the gap between experimental repair findings and human trials. I'd read those before treating the molecules as a single subject. The full source list follows.
- Lee E, Burgess K. Safety of Intravenous Infusion of BPC157 in Humans: A Pilot Study. Altern Ther Health Med. 2025. ↗
- McGuire FP, et al. Regeneration or Risk? A Narrative Review of BPC-157 for Musculoskeletal Healing. Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med. 2025. ↗
- He L, et al. Pharmacokinetics, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of body-protective compound 157, a potential drug for treating various wounds, in rats and dogs. Front Pharmacol. 2022;13:1026182. ↗
- Hsieh MJ, et al. Therapeutic potential of pro-angiogenic BPC157 is associated with VEGFR2 activation and up-regulation. J Mol Med (Berl). 2017;95:323-333. ↗
- Xue XC, et al. Protective effects of pentadecapeptide BPC 157 on gastric ulcer in rats. World J Gastroenterol. 2004;10:1032-1037. ↗
- Staresinic M, et al. Gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157 accelerates healing of transected rat Achilles tendon and in vitro stimulates tendocytes growth. J Orthop Res. 2003;21:976-983. ↗
- Sikiric P, et al. Brain-gut Axis and Pentadecapeptide BPC 157: Theoretical and Practical Implications. Curr Neuropharmacol. 2016;14:857-865. ↗
- Mortazavi SM, Mohammadi Vadoud SA, Moghimi HR. Topically applied GHK as an anti-wrinkle peptide: Advantages, problems and prospective. BioImpacts. 2025;15:30071. ↗
- Pickart L, Margolina A. Regenerative and Protective Actions of the GHK-Cu Peptide in the Light of the New Gene Data. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2018;19(7):1987. ↗
- Lee WJ, Sim HB, Jang YH, Lee SJ, Kim DW, Yim SH. Efficacy of a Complex of 5-Aminolevulinic Acid and Glycyl-Histidyl-Lysine Peptide on Hair Growth. Annals of Dermatology. 2016;28(4):438-443. ↗
- Pickart L, Vasquez-Soltero JM, Margolina A. GHK Peptide as a Natural Modulator of Multiple Cellular Pathways in Skin Regeneration. BioMed Research International. 2015;2015:648108. ↗
- Hostynek JJ, Dreher F, Maibach HI. Human skin penetration of a copper tripeptide in vitro as a function of skin layer. Inflammation Research. 2011;60(1):79-86. ↗
- Zhang D, et al. PepT1-targeted nanodrug based on co-assembly of anti-inflammatory peptide and immunosuppressant for combination treatment of acute and chronic DSS-induced colitis. Front Pharmacol. 2024;15:1442876. ↗
- Xiao B, Xu Z, Viennois E, et al. Orally Targeted Delivery of Tripeptide KPV via Hyaluronic Acid-Functionalized Nanoparticles Efficiently Alleviates Ulcerative Colitis. Mol Ther. 2017;25(7):1628-1640. ↗
- Dalmasso G, Charrier-Hisamuddin L, Nguyen HT, Yan Y, Sitaraman S, Merlin D. PepT1-mediated tripeptide KPV uptake reduces intestinal inflammation. Gastroenterology. 2008;134(1):166-178. ↗
- Kannengiesser K, Maaser C, Heidemann J, et al. Melanocortin-derived tripeptide KPV has anti-inflammatory potential in murine models of inflammatory bowel disease. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2008;14(3):324-331. ↗
- Brzoska T, Luger TA, Maaser C, Abels C, Bohm M. Alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone and related tripeptides: biochemistry, antiinflammatory and protective effects in vitro and in vivo, and future perspectives for the treatment of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. Endocr Rev. 2008;29(5):581-602. ↗
- Aronne LJ, et al. (SURMOUNT-5 Investigators). Tirzepatide as Compared with Semaglutide for the Treatment of Obesity. N Engl J Med. 2025. ↗
- Perkovic V, et al. (FLOW Trial Committees and Investigators). Effects of Semaglutide on Chronic Kidney Disease in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes. N Engl J Med. 2024. ↗
- Lincoff AM, et al. (SELECT Trial Investigators). Semaglutide and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Obesity without Diabetes. N Engl J Med. 2023. ↗
- Wilding JPH, et al. (STEP 1 Study Group). Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults with Overweight or Obesity. N Engl J Med. 2021. ↗
- Smits MM, Van Raalte DH. Safety of Semaglutide. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2021. ↗