GHK-Cu in cutaneous wound healing and tissue repair — evidence extract
The Institute's graded assessment of GHK-Cu for cutaneous wound healing and tissue repair, with the contributing trials and the domain-by-domain certainty reasoning.
§1Evidence extract: Cutaneous wound healing and tissue repair
§1.1Question and anchor outcome
- Population
- Restoration of epithelial and dermal integrity following injury, assessed by closure rate, area reduction and scar quality.
- Intervention
- GHK-Cu, topical in cosmetic and dermatological use; subcutaneous in research contexts
- Comparator
- As used in each contributing trial; reported per trial rather than pooled across comparator types
- Anchor outcome
- Time to complete closure
Additional outcomes the Institute extracts for this indication: Percentage area reduction; Scar assessment scale; Infection rate.
§1.2Contributing trials
Table 1. Trials contributing to the assessment of GHK-Cu in cutaneous wound healing and tissue repair.
| Trial | Phase | Design | Randomised | Duration | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GHKCU-TOPICAL-1 | 2 | Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled | — | 12 weeks | 2005 |
| GHKCU-TOPICAL-2 | 2 | Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled | — | 12 weeks | 2007 |
§1.3Certainty assessment
Table 2. Reasoning recorded against each certainty domain.
| Domain | Rating | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Risk of bias | No concern | No serious concern identified in this domain. |
| Inconsistency | No concern | No serious concern identified in this domain. |
| Indirectness | No concern | No serious concern identified in this domain. |
| Imprecision | No concern | No serious concern identified in this domain. |
| Publication bias | Very serious | Too few contributing studies for a formal assessment; the risk cannot be excluded. |
| Overall rating: Low certainty. Confidence in the effect estimate is limited. The true effect may be substantially different from the estimate. | ||
§1.4What this extract does not establish
References cited on this page
References are numbered in order of first citation in this document. Each superscript in the text links to its entry below.
- Pickart L, Margolina A. Regenerative and protective actions of the GHK-Cu peptide in the light of the new gene data. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2018;19(7):1987. doi:10.3390/ijms19071987 · PMID 29986520
- D’Hondt M, Bracke N, Taevernier L, Gevaert B, Verbeke F, Wynendaele E, De Spiegeleer B. Related impurities in peptide medicines. Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis 2014;101:2–30. doi:10.1016/j.jpba.2014.06.012 · PMID 25044089
- United States Pharmacopeial Convention. General Chapter ⟨788⟩ Particulate Matter in Injections. United States Pharmacopeia — National Formulary (USP–NF) 2024;USP 2024 Issue 1. identifier not held by the Institute
Identifiers are reproduced only where the Institute holds them. Where a digital object identifier or PubMed identifier is not shown, the Institute has recorded the journal and year and has not constructed an identifier.