Vilon
A two-amino-acid peptide (Lys-Glu) developed as a thymic immunoregulator and sold over the counter in Russia as a senescence-suppressing dietary supplement. Documented at the cellular level, almost not studied clinically.
1 · Identity
- Identity
- sequence-only / literature
- Aliases
- KE dipeptide (EN); Lys-Glu (EN); Vilonum (EN); Вилон (RU_LATIN)
2 · Mechanism — what the primary literature actually shows
Synthetic dipeptide Lys-Glu (KE). Three documented mechanism domains: (1) cytokine modulation in trauma — 90 patients with open fractures of long tubular bones, vilon in combination therapy stabilises POL-antioxidant system (DK, KD, ST, TBK-active products, AOA) and normalises cytokines (IL-1α, TNFα, IL-4, IL-10), enabling early diagnosis of purulent complications (Miromanov-Namokonov 2008); (2) immunity restoration in appendicitis — comparative study, thymalin 10 mg ×10d, epithalamin 10 mg ×10d, OR vilon 10 µg ×5 or 10d i.m. all stimulate immunity and promote primary wound healing in complicated appendicitis (Kuznik-Abdulaev-Vitkovsky-Likhanov-Tsybikov 2008); (3) accelerates TNFα synthesis in human PBMCs (Maksimenia 2016); (4) regulatory peptide review — V.Kh. Khavinson and T.V. Kvetnaya on homeostatic regulatory peptides (2005) — the conceptual framework paper for the Khavinson peptide school. Dendrimer delivery: lysine dendrimer can complex vilon for therapeutic delivery (Ilyash-Okrugin-Khamidova-Neelov 2016).
How it works
Key findings (5)
- 90 patients with open long-bone fractures: vilon stabilises POL-antioxidant system (DK/KD/ST/TBK-active/AOA) and normalises cytokines (IL-1α, TNFα, IL-4, IL-10) — enables early diagnosis of purulent complications (Miromanov-Namokonov 2008)
- Comparative trial in complicated appendicitis: thymalin (10 mg ×10d), epithalamin (10 mg ×10d), or vilon (10 µg ×5-10d i.m.) all stimulate immunity and promote primary wound healing (Kuznik-Abdulaev-Vitkovsky-Likhanov-Tsybikov 2008)
- Human PBMCs: vilon accelerates TNFα synthesis (Maksimenia 2016)
- Adjacent: Khavinson-Kvetnaya 2005 "Regulatory peptides and homeostasis" — conceptual framework paper for the Khavinson school
- Lysine dendrimer can complex vilon for therapeutic delivery (Ilyash-Okrugin-Khamidova-Neelov 2016, molecular dynamics simulation)
Evidence quality
Strong for trauma/appendicitis applications — clinical case series with clear biomarker endpoints. Conceptual framework well-articulated.
Open questions (4)
- Mechanism distinguishing vilon (KE) from other thymic dipeptides (thymogen = EW): both dipeptides, different amino acids, different effects — why?
- Is vilon the active principle of thymalin? Both restore immunity, similar cytokine profile
- Wound healing promotion: is this direct fibroblast effect or via immune modulation?
- TNFα upregulation: pro-inflammatory? Counterintuitive for an immunomodulator
3 · Summary
Design distribution
| Design | Count | Distribution |
|---|---|---|
| CONTROLLED | 5 | █████ |
| CLINICAL_UNCONTROLLED | 8 | ████████ |
| ANIMAL | 32 | ████████████████████████████████ |
| IN_VITRO | 5 | █████ |
| REVIEW | 1 | █ |
| UNGRADED | 11 | ███████████ |
4 · Possible mechanisms — candidate list
5 · Pathways — questions the corpus does not yet answer
- Pathway
- Falsification experiment for open question 1. Mechanism distinguishing vilon (KE) from other thymic dipeptides (thymogen = EW): both dipeptides, different amino acids, different effects — why?
- Blocked by
- See synthesis evidence quality section for barriers.
- Pathway
- Falsification experiment for open question 2. Is vilon the active principle of thymalin? Both restore immunity, similar cytokine profile
- Blocked by
- See synthesis evidence quality section for barriers.
- Pathway
- Falsification experiment for open question 3. Wound healing promotion: is this direct fibroblast effect or via immune modulation?
- Blocked by
- See synthesis evidence quality section for barriers.
- Pathway
- Falsification experiment for open question 4. TNFα upregulation: pro-inflammatory? Counterintuitive for an immunomodulator
- Blocked by
- See synthesis evidence quality section for barriers.
6 · Bibliography — Russian primary sources
- molekulyarno-dinamicheskoe-modelirovanie-lizinovyh-dendrimerov-i-ih-gibridov-s-bioaktivnymi-peptidami
- printsipy-izucheniya-klinicheskoy-biohimii-pri-podgotovke-vrachey-biohimikov-v-sisteme-universitetskogo-obrazovaniya
- patogeneticheskoe-obosnovanie-ispolzovaniya-vilona-v-profilaktike-posleoperatsionnyh-gnoynyh-oslozhneniy-pri-otkrytyh-perelomah
- tehnologiya-novyh-belkovyh-produktov-iz-dalnevostochnyh-dvustvorchatyh-mollyuskov
- sravnitelnoe-deystvie-timalina-epitalamina-i-vilona-na-sostoyanie-immuniteta-u-bolnyh-s-oslozhnennym-techeniem-ostrogo-appenditsita
- regulyatornye-peptidy-i-gomeostaz
- opyt-klinicheskogo-primeneniya-timomimetika-vilona-v-lechenii-diffuznogo-toksicheskogo-zoba
- neyroprotektornye-svoystva-neyropeptidov
- kompleksnaya-terapiya-hronicheskogo-parodontita-u-pozhilyh
- bioreguliruyuschaya-terapiya-hronicheskogo-paraproktita
- sovremennye-predstavleniya-o-deystvii-aminokisloty-l-lizina-na-nervnuyu-i-immunnuyu-regulyatornye-sistemy
- molekulyarnye-mehanizmy-vozdeystviya-aminokislot-v-sostave-tserebrolizina-na-neyrotransmissiyu-neyrotroficheskie-i
- metabolicheskiy-profil-svobodnyh-aminokislot-pri-beremennosti-oslozhnennoy-covid-19
- puti-povysheniya-rezervnyh-vozmozhnostey-organizma-u-lits-pri-vozdeystvii-neblagopriyatnyh-proizvodstvennyh-i-klimatoekologicheskih
- epigeneticheskoe-deystvie-regulyatornyh-peptidov-na-tsitokinovyy-profil-i-sistemu-gemostaza
- vliyanie-geroprotektornyh-peptidov-na-ekspressiyu-vnutriyadernyh-belkov-reguliruyuschih-biosintez-ribosom-v-kulture-opuholevyh-kletok
- rol-svobodnyh-aminokislot-v-podderzhanii-osmoticheskogo-gomeostaza-u-ryb
- dipeptidnyy-mimetik-faktora-rosta-nervov-stimuliruet-neyrogenez-i-sinaptogenez-v-gippokampe-i-striatume-vzroslyh-krys-s-fokalnoy
- metabolicheskie-markery-infektsii-covid-19-u-beremennyh
- znachenie-i-sposoby-sinteza-pirrolohinolinhinona-pqq
- vliyanie-prirodnyh-i-sinteticheskih-peptidov-na-produktsiyu-tsitokinov-kletkami-perifericheskoy-krovi
- vliyanie-vilona-na-limfotsitarnotrombotsitarnuyu-adgeziyu-v-eksperimente
Inventor (detail): V.G. Morozov + V.Kh. Khavinson (named in Morozov & Khavinson 1997).
First publication: Khavinson V.Kh., Morozov V.G., 1997 (Immunopharmacology paper "Natural and synthetic thymic peptides as therapeutics for immune dysfunction" is the English-language foundational citation; Russian papers go back to the late 1990s).
Peptide kind: **Synthetic dipeptide** (Lys-Glu, "KE"), 2 amino acid residues. Isolated from Thymalin via RP-HPLC, then synthesized (Morozov et al., 2000).
Below: substantive excerpts from 6 Russian primary papers. Click each title to expand the Russian/English abstract.
6/6 papers with substantive abstracts · 5,238 characters of Russian/English pharmacological text extracted · 6 Russian abstracts · 4 English abstracts · 3/6 relevance-classified.
Extracted findings (0 models · 2 mechanism terms · direction: ↑2 ↓1 ↺0 across 6 papers)
- Model organisms
- —
- Doses / concentrations
- 10 мкг
- Mechanism terms
- антиоксиданты, иммунной системы
- Effect direction
- 2× increase · 1× decrease · 0× restoration/normalisation
[2016] Молекулярно-динамическое моделирование лизиновых дендримеров и их гибридов с биоактивными пептидами
[2005] Принципы изучения клинической биохимии при подготовке врачей-биохимиков в системе университетского образования
[2008] Патогенетическое обоснование использования вилона в профилактике послеоперационных гнойных осложнений при открытых перел
[2008] Технология новых белковых продуктов из дальневосточных двустворчатых моллюсков
[2008] Сравнительное действие тималина, эпиталамина и вилона на состояние иммунитета у больных с осложненным течением острого а
[2005] Регуляторные пептиды и гомеостаз
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 (1995) Khavinson VKh — Synthetic dipeptide; thymic analog
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.