We use essential cookies (authentication, your saved goals/stack) by default. With your permission we'll also enable privacy-respecting analytics (Vercel Web Analytics, anonymous load-time metrics) and error-replay diagnostics (Sentry — DOM snapshots only when an error fires) so we can fix bugs faster. Learn more about cookies
Kis3.0
Kisspeptin Research
Mostly mechanism / observationalLimited safety
14 peer-reviewed studies
What the evidence says
Mostly mechanism / observational
Most Kisspeptin studies are mechanism or observational rather than RCTs that measure a clinical effect — keep findings provisional.
Most evidence is from mixed-quality randomised trials published 2009–2023 with a typical study size of 32 participants.
Based on 14 studies · 8 RCTs · 1,059 total participants
Confidence
High
By outcome
Reproductive hormones & HPG axis
Mostly mechanism / observational7 studies
Fertility & IVF egg maturation
Mostly mechanism / observational5 studies
Sexual desire & male hormones
Mostly mechanism / observational5 studies
Mood & emotional brain processing
Mostly mechanism / observational5 studies
Women's health
Mostly mechanism / observational3 studies
Safety profile
Too few graded studies1 study
Steady research
4 studies in the last 5 years
200920162023
1RCTn=60 · small study2015
Kisspeptin-54 is a promising approach to effectively and safely trigger oocyte maturation in women undergoing IVF treatment at high risk of developing OHSS.
Abbara A, Jayasena CN, Christopoulos G, Narayanaswamy S, Izzi-Engbeaya C, Nijher GM, Comninos AN, Bloom SR, Trew GH, Dhillo WS, et al. · J Clin Endocrinol Metab (2015)
Phase-2, multi-dose, open-label, randomized clinical trial of 60 women at high risk of OHSS
Oocyte maturation occurred in 95% of women; highest yield following the 12.8 nmol/kg dose
Across all doses, biochemical pregnancy/clinical pregnancy/live-birth rates per transfer were 63%/53%/45%
Kisspeptin administration enhanced limbic brain activity specifically in response to sexual and couple-bonding stimuli ... and attenuated negative mood.
Comninos AN, Wall MB, Demetriou L, Shah AJ, Clarke SA, Abbara A, Jayasena CN, Rabiner EA, Bloom SR, Dhillo WS, et al. · J Clin Invest (2017)
Functional-neuroimaging study comparing kisspeptin vs vehicle in 29 healthy heterosexual young men
Kisspeptin enhanced limbic brain activity to sexual and couple-bonding stimuli
Limbic enhancement correlated with psychometric measures of reward, drive, mood and (reduced) sexual aversion
Kisspeptin administration substantially modulates sexual brain processing in men with HSDD, with associated increases in penile tumescence and behavioral measures of sexual desire.
Mills EG, Ertl N, Wall MB, Thurston L, Yang L, Abbara A, Goldmeier D, Comninos AN, Dhillo WS, et al. · JAMA Netw Open (2023)
Double-blind, 2-way crossover, placebo-controlled randomized trial in men with hypoactive sexual desire disorder (32 completed)
Intravenous kisspeptin-54 (1 nmol/kg/h for 75 min) vs rate-matched placebo
Kisspeptin significantly modulated sexual-processing brain networks (Cohen d = 0.81, P = .003)
Kisspeptin administration resulted in modulations in sexual and facial attraction brain processing ... Kisspeptin was well-tolerated with no reported adverse effects.
Thurston L, Hunjan T, Ertl N, Wall MB, Mills EG, Suladze S, Patel B, Alexander EC, Bassett PA, Rabiner EA, Goldmeier D, Abbara A, Comninos AN, Dhillo WS. · JAMA Netw Open (2022)
Double-blind, placebo-controlled 2-way crossover randomized clinical trial in premenopausal women with HSDD (40 randomized, 32 completed both visits)
75-minute IV kisspeptin-54 (1 nmol/kg/h) vs rate-matched placebo, with functional neuroimaging during erotic and facial-attraction stimuli
Kisspeptin modulated sexual and facial-attraction brain processing; kisspeptin-enhanced hippocampal activity correlated with baseline sexual distress, and posterior-cingulate activity correlated with reduced sexual aversion
Acute administration of kisspeptin to women with infertility due to HA potently stimulates gonadotropin release, but chronic administration of kisspeptin results in desensitization to its effects.
kisspeptin is implicated in the control of reproductive behaviour in animals, modulation of human sexual and emotional brain processing, and has antidepressive and fear-suppressing effects.
Mills EG, Izzi-Engbeaya C, Abbara A, Comninos AN, Dhillo WS. · Nat Rev Endocrinol (2021)
Narrative review of galanin, spexin and kisspeptin across metabolism, mood and behaviour
Summarizes kisspeptin's roles in reproduction, glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, food intake and energy expenditure
Notes human sexual/emotional brain-processing and antidepressive/fear-suppressing signals
Kisspeptin-10 stimulates gonadotropin release in men as well as women during the preovulatory phase of menstrual cycle but fails to stimulate gonadotropin release in women during the follicular phase.
Jayasena CN, Nijher GM, Comninos AN, Abbara A, Murphy KG, Ghatei MA, Bloom SR, Dhillo WS, et al. · J Clin Endocrinol Metab (2011)
Kisspeptin-10 administered to healthy men and women (n = 4-5/group)
In men, LH and FSH rose after IV bolus at doses as low as 0.3-1.0 nmol/kg
In follicular-phase women, no gonadotropin change even at high doses; preovulatory-phase women did respond
Kisspeptin-10 administration increased LH pulse frequency and LH secretion in hypotestosteronaemic men with T2DM ... with associated increases in serum testosterone.
George JT, Veldhuis JD, Tena-Sempere M, Millar RP, Anderson RA. · Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) (2013)
Proof-of-concept study in hypotestosteronaemic men with type 2 diabetes (n = 5) and healthy men (n = 7)
IV kisspeptin-10 bolus raised LH in both groups with comparable response
An 11-h infusion increased LH, LH pulse frequency, and serum testosterone in T2DM men