Epithalon Peptide Induces Telomerase Activity and Telomere Elongation in Human Somatic Cells
Khavinson VK, Bondarev IE, Butyugov AA (2003). Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine.
Summary
The source of the claim most often made for epitalon. Adding the peptide to cultured human fetal fibroblasts, which do not normally produce telomerase, was reported to switch on expression of the enzyme's catalytic subunit, produce telomerase activity and lengthen telomeres. The authors suggest this could extend the lifespan of a cell population and, they speculate, of an organism. A short report on cells in culture from the group that developed the peptide; the leap from cultured fibroblasts to an organism is theirs and is not demonstrated.