MOTS-c
Mitochondrial-derived peptide studied in metabolic signaling and aging biology.
Editorial review: August 13, 2026Evidence snapshot
This drawer marks papers. It is not a plan, a dose, or a source. A paper is a bounded report. It is not a protocol. Grades name the object. They are not a safety rating.
MOTS-c is not approved. Off-label does not apply. There is no published controlled human MOTS-c intervention in this set, and none in the native MOTS-c literature this drawer uses. CB4211 is a different analogue. Do not treat it as MOTS-c. NCT07505745 is recruiting and unpublished.
Bottom line
Predominantly preclinical. Human papers here measure endogenous or circulating MOTS-c, or give MOTS-c to mice, rats, or cells. They do not show that giving MOTS-c to people does a named thing. Honest line: no controlled human MOTS-c intervention.
Papers
Preclinical
PMID 25738459 — Lee 2015
Tested: discovery work; MOTS-c in mice for metabolic homeostasis, obesity, and insulin resistance.
Does not show: a human intervention.
Tested: MOTS-c translocation and nuclear gene regulation in cells under metabolic stress.
Does not show: a human treatment effect.
Tested: MOTS-c in a mouse gestational-diabetes model. The title names GDM; the experiment is not a human GDM trial.
Does not show: MOTS-c given to pregnant people.
Tested: MOTS-c in a mouse radiation-pneumonitis model.
Does not show: a human lung-injury trial.
Early human (observational only)
These papers include a human measurement of MOTS-c. They are not trials of giving MOTS-c to people. Do not write them as “MOTS-c does X in patients.”
Tested: plasma MOTS-c versus myostatin correlation in human subjects, plus MOTS-c in C2C12 myotubes and in diet-induced obese mice.
Does not show: that administering MOTS-c changes muscle mass in people.
Tested: circulating MOTS-c in people after off-pump coronary artery bypass, including those with postoperative acute lung injury; MOTS-c administration was in rats and in lung epithelial cells.
Does not show: that giving MOTS-c to surgical patients treats lung injury.
Tested: circulating MOTS-c as a biomarker across HBV-infection cohorts, plus MOTS-c experiments in HBV models (mice/cells).
Does not show: MOTS-c as an approved or controlled human HBV therapy.
Tested: MOTS-c levels in serum and tumor tissue from people with ovarian cancer (lower levels, poorer prognosis), plus exogenous MOTS-c in experimental systems.
Does not show: that treating people with MOTS-c changes cancer outcomes.
PMID 33473109 — Reynolds 2021
Tested: MOTS-c and physical decline in mice; in humans, endogenous MOTS-c rose with exercise. Not exogenous MOTS-c.
Does not show: that taking MOTS-c improves human performance.
PMID 34320351 — Kong 2021
Tested: MOTS-c in NOD mice; people with type 1 diabetes had lower serum MOTS-c (observational).
Does not show: MOTS-c treatment of type 1 diabetes in people.
What is not established
A controlled human MOTS-c intervention. Any labeled use. Identity between endogenous MOTS-c, a research analogue, and a vial. CB4211 is out of scope. NCT07505745 is not a result.
Selected sources
25738459 29983246 34798268 38206815 38790718 33554779 37290680 37788894 39321430 33473109 34320351
Reported experiences
Energy, exercise, metabolic health
Reported topics are not established benefits.Risks and unknowns
Unknown long-term effects, injection and product-quality risks
Compare experiences with care.
Join the discussion
Verified members can contribute to compound conversations.