My interest in Kiss-10 is first and foremost as a diagnostic for delayed puberty / normosmic congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism/Kallmann syndrome. There is no diagnosis currently for people that show signs during puberty of delayed puberty. Like me, a “late bloomer” turns into T lvls of 171 ng/dL at 26 and a life that is ruined via not progressing physically/mentally/emotionally through the phases of life. A doctor won’t risk starting unnecessary hormone treatment early because it can obviously have consequences.
The condition ends up being a diagnosis of exclusion, which is a shit way to find out if you have a condition.
So, as a diagnostic it has great potential.
Second, I am very interested in alternative treatments that allow for endogenous production of testosterone. Shots have not been a walk in the park for me, and Clomid made me want to cry.
I really wish enclomiphene citrate passed Phase 3, the company set dumbass endpoints.
Can’t live in the past.
Both GnRH and Kiss-10 have potential for endogenous production. GnRH works with people with Kallmann/ncHH but Kiss-10 does not, because it’s issues with the GnRH neurons (not the pituitary) that causes these conditions.
For “normal” men with secondary hypogonadism, and a functioning hypothalamus/pituitary that is suppressed for unknown reasons, Kiss-10 could be the replacement master-cascade switch to start the Kiss–GnRH–LH/FSH–Testosterone cascade.
The issue is it’s very sensitive, pulsing ~120 minutes in adults…so how is that mimicked? Slow release? Infusion pump? An electronic patch that micro-needles a dose every 2 hours? These are the things we are thinking about.
The compound is very stable, very safe (it’s a naturally occurring compound), but it’s the delivery that needs work…either the best way to mimic 2 hour pulse delivery, or finding the maximum injection frequency that still leads to therapeutic / intended effect.
I do not think Kisspeptin is the best alternative to hCG because if HPTA shutdown occurs due to GnRH receptor desensitization, it’s masked by testosterone shots, and you’re simply wasting money / fucking with your HPTA for no reason.
Kiss-10 as a monotherapy may make sense, but honestly anyone who uses it as a monotherapy would indeed be a lab-rat for injection frequency. Kiss-10 needs to be delivered the same way as GnRH, infusion pumps, so they face the same issue with delivery, not with effectiveness. We know they work, their delivery needs make them not ideal at all as compared to methods of testosterone replacement currently.