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Kisspeptin helps connect the brain with the
reproductive system.

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Its story began with cancer research, before
revealing a central

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role in puberty, fertility and sexual
signaling.

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In 1996, Jeong Hyung Lee, Danny Welch and
colleagues at

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Penn State in Hershey, Pennsylvania, reported
the KISS1 gene.

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The name nodded to Hershey's chocolate kisses.

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Researchers were studying how cancer spreads,
not searching for a

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fertility hormone.

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In 2001, teams identified kisspeptins as
signals for a receptor

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now called KISS1R.

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In 2003, human genetic studies linked
disruptions in that receptor

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to absent or delayed puberty.

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Kisspeptin is a family of peptides, including
forms with ten

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and fifty-four amino acids.

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In the brain, it stimulates neurons that
release gonadotropin-releasing hormone.

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That signal prompts the pituitary to release
hormones that regulate

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the ovaries and testes.

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This makes kisspeptin an important coordinator
of reproductive hormone signaling,

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rather than a replacement for testosterone or
estrogen.

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At Imperial College London, Waljit Dhillo and
colleagues explored its

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therapeutic potential.

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A 2014 study in fifty-three women showed that
kisspeptin-fifty-four could

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trigger egg maturation during IVF treatment.

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Fertilization, pregnancies and live births
followed.

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Later placebo-controlled studies in women and
men with distressing low

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sexual desire found changes in sexual brain
processing.

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The men's study also found increased physical
arousal.

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These findings connect reproductive hormones
with the brain circuits involved

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in sexual responses.

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They establish promising research directions;
they do not establish a

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lasting treatment benefit.

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Nearly thirty years after the original gene
report, kisspeptin research

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spans puberty, fertility and sexual health,
revealing how one signaling

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system links the brain with reproduction.

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World Peptide Foundation.

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Peptides in 2.

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Every experience matters.