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Kisspeptin-10 is the smallest member of the kisspeptin family that still fully activates its receptor. It was traced back to a gene first studied in melanoma cells and is now a standard probe of the hormonal chain linking the brain to the gonads. Here we cover its chemistry, its unusual discovery and its legal position.
Kisspeptin-10, often abbreviated KP-10, corresponds to residues 112 to 121 of the protein made from the KISS1 gene and ends in an amidated arginine-phenylalanine pair. The longer natural kisspeptins all carry this same ten-residue tail, and receptor assays show that Kisspeptin-10 by itself is enough to activate their receptor.
That receptor, called KISS1R or by its older name GPR54, is found on the hypothalamic neurons that release gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), the signal at the top of the reproductive hormone cascade. Since Kisspeptin-10 is short, simple to synthesise and acts within minutes, physiologists use it to test how the hypothalamus, pituitary and gonads communicate. It is also short-lived: in mice, Kisspeptin-10 disappears from the bloodstream within a few minutes.
Its history is unusual. The gene was described in 1996 by a laboratory in Hershey, Pennsylvania, as a suppressor of melanoma metastasis, and its connection to puberty only emerged in 2003. These pages trace that path, report what human studies with Kisspeptin-10 have measured, and explain why it is still an unapproved research peptide rather than a medicine.
| Type | Synthetic linear decapeptide, the C-terminal fragment of kisspeptin |
| Sequence | Tyr-Asn-Trp-Asn-Ser-Phe-Gly-Leu-Arg-Phe-NH2 (YNWNSFGLRF-NH2) |
| Formula and mass | C63H83N17O14, about 1,302 g/mol |
| Position | Residues 112–121 of the 145-residue KISS1 precursor; also called metastin (45–54) |
| Receptor | KISS1R, formerly GPR54, a G protein-coupled receptor that signals mainly through Gq/11 |
| Gene discovery | KiSS-1, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania, 1996 |
| Regulatory status | No approval as a medicine; FDA safety-risk list for compounding (2023); WADA Prohibited List (since 2024) |
Kisspeptin10.xyz describes science and regulation. It does not encourage anyone to take Kisspeptin-10, which is a research reagent rather than a medicine. For questions about your own health, please speak to a doctor or pharmacist.