Bronchogen
A four-amino-acid peptide (Ala-Glu-Asp-Leu) developed for bronchial indications. One published paper (PMID 22117547), no PubChem entry, and essentially no Western literature.
1 · Identity
- Identity
- sequence-only / literature
- Aliases
- AEDL tetrapeptide (EN); Bronchogenum (EN); Бронхоген (RU_LATIN)
2 · Mechanism — what the primary literature actually shows
Synthetic tetrapeptide Ala-Glu-Asp-Leu (AEDL). Havigan school lineage: AEDL was isolated from bronchial epithelium polypeptide fraction by chromatography-mass-spec, then synthesised. The molecular mechanism is uniquely well-characterised for this class: in human bronchial epithelial cell cultures, AEDL epigenetically regulates Ki67, Mcl-1, p53, CD79, NOS-3 protein synthesis (cell renewal) and activates differentiation genes Nkx2.1, SCGB1A1, SCGB3A2, FoxA1, FoxA2 plus mucin genes MUC4, MUC5AC, SftpA1 — the exact set that goes down in chronic bronchitis. Bronchogen is effective and safe orally in chronic bronchitis remission patients, normalising pulmonary function indices. A fascinating ancillary finding: AEDL also protects tobacco callus from NaCl salinity at 10⁻⁷ M, comparable to plant-hormone-level potency.
How it works
Key findings (4)
- Human bronchial epithelial cell culture: AEDL upregulates Ki67/Mcl-1/p53/CD79/NOS-3 (cell renewal), activates Nkx2.1/SCGB1A1/SCGB3A2/FoxA1/FoxA2 (differentiation) and MUC4/MUC5AC/SftpA1 (mucins). Downregulation of these same genes correlates with chronic bronchitis development (Khavinson-Ryzhak-Linkova-Ashapkin-Drobinzeva-Basharina-Vanyushkin 2014)
- Chronic bronchitis patients in remission: oral AEDL normalises pulmonary function indices; safe (Khavinson 2014)
- Tobacco sprouts + callus under NaCl salinity: AEDL at 10⁻⁷ M enhances root/hypocotyl growth, reduces ROS, increases meristem + suction zone stress resistance; epidermal cells most protected; effects comparable to plant-hormone regulatory action (Kononenko 2018 — mechanistic cross-kingdom finding)
- Khavinson 2020 master review: bronchogen is among the synthetic tetrapeptides (with Thymogen, Vilon, Pinealon, Vesugen, Epitalon, Cardiogen) that regulate gene expression, protein synthesis, chromatin state and telomerase elongation
Evidence quality
High — this is one of the few tetrapeptides with a documented molecular mechanism (specific genes regulated, specific protein targets) and a clinical translation. Kononenko plant work is genuinely surprising and worth flagging.
Open questions (4)
- Does the epigenetic regulation extend to human clinical settings beyond bronchial epithelium?
- Why does the peptide also work in plant tissue? Sequence-agnostic chromatin interaction, or genuine plant receptor orthologue?
- Telomerase activation claim (Khavinson 2020) — is this direct or downstream of cell renewal?
- Phase 3 RCT evidence in chronic bronchitis: still Russian clinical literature, no international trial
3 · Summary
Design distribution
| Design | Count | Distribution |
|---|---|---|
| ANIMAL | 4 | ████ |
| UNGRADED | 2 | ██ |
4 · Possible mechanisms — candidate list
5 · Pathways — questions the corpus does not yet answer
- Pathway
- Experimental design: falsification experiment for open question 1. Does the epigenetic regulation extend to human clinical settings beyond bronchial epithelium?
- Blocked by
- See synthesis evidence quality section for barriers.
- Pathway
- Experimental design: falsification experiment for open question 2. Why does the peptide also work in plant tissue? Sequence-agnostic chromatin interaction, or genuine plant receptor orthologue?
- Blocked by
- See synthesis evidence quality section for barriers.
- Pathway
- Experimental design: falsification experiment for open question 3. Telomerase activation claim (Khavinson 2020) — is this direct or downstream of cell renewal?
- Blocked by
- See synthesis evidence quality section for barriers.
- Pathway
- Experimental design: falsification experiment for open question 4. Phase 3 RCT evidence in chronic bronchitis: still Russian clinical literature, no international trial
- Blocked by
- See synthesis evidence quality section for barriers.
6 · Bibliography — Russian primary sources
- lekarstvennye-peptidnye-preparaty-proshloe-nastoyaschee-buduschee
- perspektivy-primeneniya-tetrapeptida-v-lechenii-hronicheskogo-bronhita-molekulyarnye-mehanizmy
- rol-peptidnyh-bioregulyatorov-v-povyshenii-effektivnosti-lecheniya-bolnyh-v-pozhilom-vozraste
- alveolyarnye-makrofagi-i-surfaktant-legkih-pri-disbalanse-dofaminergicheskoy-neyrotransmissii
- zaschitnoe-deystvie-peptida-alagluaspleu-na-prorostki-i-kallusnuyu-kulturu-tabaka-nicotiana-tabacum-l-vyraschennyh-v-usloviyah
- sindrom-neadekvatnoy-sekretsii-antidiureticheskogo-gormona-problemy-diagnostiki-i-terapii
- effektivnost-elektroforeza-s-neyromidinom-v-lechenii-bolnyh-s-tserebrovaskulyarnymi-narusheniyami-v-pozhilom-vozraste
- klinicheskie-osobennosti-techeniya-mukovistsidoza-u-vzroslyh-bolnyh-s-narusheniem-uglevodnogo-obmena
- sindrom-giperprolaktinemii-u-patsientok-s-ginekologicheskimi-zabolevaniyami
- paraneoplasticheskie-sindromy
Inventor (detail): V.Kh. Khavinson lab.
First publication: late 2000s / early 2010s.
Peptide kind: Polypeptide fraction from bronchial / lung tissue (bovine). The "AEDL" tetrapeptide mentioned in the Kononenko 2018 paper may be a Bronchogen-derived sequence.
Below: substantive excerpts from 3 Russian primary papers. Click each title to expand the Russian/English abstract.
3/6 papers with substantive abstracts · 5,459 characters of Russian/English pharmacological text extracted · 3 Russian abstracts · 3 English abstracts · 2/6 relevance-classified.
Extracted findings (1 models · 6 mechanism terms · direction: ↑4 ↓3 ↺3 across 3 papers)
- Model organisms
- —
- Doses / concentrations
- —
- Mechanism terms
- дифференцировке, дифференцировки, дифференцировку, кортексин, регенерации, экспрессию генов
- Effect direction
- 4× increase · 3× decrease · 3× restoration/normalisation
[2020] ЛЕКАРСТВЕННЫЕ ПЕПТИДНЫЕ ПРЕПАРАТЫ: ПРОШЛОЕ, НАСТОЯЩЕЕ, БУДУЩЕЕ
[2014] ПЕРСПЕКТИВЫ ПРИМЕНЕНИЯ ТЕТРАПЕПТИДА В ЛЕЧЕНИИ ХРОНИЧЕСКОГО БРОНХИТА: МОЛЕКУЛЯРНЫЕ МЕХАНИЗМЫ
[2018] Защитное действие пептида AlaGluAspLeu на проростки и каллусную культуру табака (Nicotiana tabacum L. ), выращенных в ус
7 · Bibliography — PubMed corpus
8 · Corroboration
- Corpus source
- PubMed (eutils) and OpenAlex, swept against this compound by PMID. Last verified 26.08.2026.
- Identity source
- PubChem CID — verified live. InChIKey —. Live fetch on 26.08.2026.
- Provenance
- St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology (2003) Khavinson VKh — Lung tetrapeptide; respiratory cytogen
9 · Open questions
- Zero A- or B-grade evidence in the corpus. No registered RCT with disclosed n.
- Most of the published evidence for this compound is from the group that developed it. Where independent replication exists, we flag it in the mechanism block above; where it doesn't, treat mechanism claims as developer-side.