Augurin (ECRG4)
The secreted peptide of the tumor-suppressor gene ECRG4 — it reins in cell growth and helps the immune system patrol for tumors. A research peptide, not a drug
Augurin is a secreted, hormone-like peptide made from the ECRG4 gene — short for esophageal cancer-related gene 4 (also called C2orf40). The gene was cloned from normal esophageal lining, and its protein product is cut into augurin and a few shorter secreted peptides. ECRG4 is one of the body's candidate 'tumor-suppressor' genes: it generally holds back cell growth, pushing cells to pause their division (through the p53 and p21 cell-cycle brakes), nudging damaged cells toward programmed death, and curbing their migration and invasion. In many cancers — of the esophagus, brain (glioma), stomach and liver — the ECRG4 gene is switched off, usually by chemical 'methylation' tags on its promoter, which removes that brake; intriguingly, in papillary thyroid cancer the opposite happens and ECRG4 is turned up, so its role is context-dependent. As a secreted peptide, augurin reaches beyond the cell it came from: it is abundant in the choroid plexus and the cerebrospinal fluid, it helps the immune system recognise and clear brain tumors through type-I interferon signalling in microglia, it acts as a 'stop' signal that terminates wound healing in skin, and it is tied to cell senescence and inflammation. Augurin is studied as a research peptide and a potential cancer and immune target; it is not an approved medicine and has not been given to people as a treatment.
No established human dose Details ↓
Recommended Dosing
No established human dose
Augurin is an endogenous ECRG4-derived peptide that has never been given to people as a treatment. The human work measures the ECRG4 gene and peptide in tissue, and the functional work is in animals and cells.
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What is it?
Augurin is the secreted peptide product of ECRG4, the esophageal cancer-related gene 4 (also known as C2orf40). The gene was first cloned from normal esophageal epithelium, and its precursor protein is processed into augurin and a set of shorter secreted peptides (CΔ16-augurin, ecilin and argilin). The gene and its peptides are highly conserved across species, and messenger RNA for ECRG4 is found in essentially every tissue, with the protein concentrated in heart and skeletal muscle, the digestive epithelium, the lymphatic organs, many neurons, and a long list of endocrine cells — as well as, notably, the choroid plexus and the cerebrospinal fluid.
ECRG4's best-studied role is as a candidate tumor suppressor. Restoring ECRG4 in cancer cells slows their growth: it arrests the cell cycle at the G1-to-S transition by raising the p53 and p21 brakes, promotes apoptosis, and inhibits migration and invasion, with its anti-growth effect linked to lower activity of the pro-proliferative transcription factor NF-kB. Across esophageal, glioma, gastric, liver and other cancers, the ECRG4 gene is frequently silenced — usually by hypermethylation of its promoter — and restoring it reverses malignant behaviour.
The picture is not one-directional. In papillary thyroid carcinoma, ECRG4 is instead up-regulated (through demethylation of its promoter) and there it promotes cell-cycle progression and tumour growth — a reminder that the same peptide can suppress or promote growth depending on the tissue. ECRG4 has also been shown to regulate apoptosis in immune cells, acting as a negative regulator of caspase-8-mediated cell death in T-leukemia lines.
Because augurin is secreted, it also works as a signal between cells. In the brain it contributes to immune surveillance against tumors: glioma-initiating cells lacking Ecrg4 form tumors that evade the immune system, whereas Ecrg4-replete tumors are cleared, and Ecrg4 fragments drive pro-inflammatory cytokines in microglia through type-I interferon signalling. In the skin, Ecrg4 behaves as a 'wound-terminating factor' — it rises at the wound margin during the late phase of healing and slows fibroblast migration and wound closure, helping bring the repair process to an orderly stop. It is also implicated in cellular senescence and in the activation of neural progenitor cells after injury.
Augurin is an endogenous ECRG4-derived research peptide. No published study has given augurin to people as a treatment — the human work measures the gene and peptide in tissue, and the functional work is in animals and cells — it is approved nowhere, and material sold online as 'augurin' is an unregulated research chemical. Nothing here is a dose or a therapy; this page records what the published science says about the peptide.
Mechanism of Action
Augurin is the secreted peptide of the conserved ECRG4 (C2orf40) gene, processed from a precursor into augurin and shorter peptides. It generally acts as a tumor suppressor — arresting the cell cycle (p53/p21), promoting apoptosis and lowering NF-kB — and as a secreted signal it supports anti-tumor immunosurveillance (type-I interferon in microglia), terminates wound healing and is linked to senescence, with a context-dependent tumor-promoting role in papillary thyroid cancer.
ECRG4 processing and secretion
The ECRG4 precursor is processed into augurin and shorter secreted peptides (CΔ16-augurin, ecilin, argilin), widely expressed including in choroid plexus and neuroendocrine cells (PMID 26150152).
Tumor suppression (context-dependent)
ECRG4 arrests the cell cycle via p53/p21, promotes apoptosis and lowers NF-kB to suppress glioma and esophageal cancer (PMIDs 20598162, 23957914), but is up-regulated and growth-promoting in papillary thyroid cancer (PMID 25326809).
Immune surveillance and wound termination
Secreted Ecrg4 fragments drive microglial type-I interferon anti-glioma immunity (PMID 28123880) and act as a late-phase wound-terminating factor in skin (PMID 22899245).
Published Research
These are studies of ECRG4 / augurin read from their PubMed abstracts on November 6, 2026. They include a review of ECRG4 tissue distribution and its secreted peptides, animal studies of its anti-glioma immunosurveillance and its wound-terminating role in skin, and cell/tissue studies of its tumor-suppressive action in glioma and esophageal cancer and its context-dependent tumor-promoting role in papillary thyroid cancer. Augurin has not been given to people as a treatment; the human work measures the gene and peptide in tissue.
ECRG4 tissue distribution and its secreted peptides
A study and literature review mapping ECRG4 across rat organs, noting that the conserved tumor-suppressor gene encodes several processable, secreted peptides (augurin, CΔ16-augurin, ecilin, argilin). ECRG4 was found widely — muscle, digestive epithelium, lymphatic organs, neurons, and many endocrine cells (hypothalamus, pituitary, thyroid, adrenal, gonads) — and, being secreted and present in neurons and endocrine cells, was proposed to act as a neurotransmitter/neuromodulator and endocrine factor in addition to its oncosuppressor role (a review).
Ecrg4 drives anti-glioma immunosurveillance via type-I interferon
Glioma-initiating cells made from Ecrg4-knockout mouse neural stem cells formed tumors in the brains of immunocompetent mice, whereas Ecrg4-replete cells were usually cleared by host CD4, CD8 and NK responses. Ecrg4 fragments (residues 71-132 and 133-148) induced pro-inflammatory cytokines in microglia, and blocking type-I interferon signalling abolished the antitumor effect — identifying a major antitumor function of the Ecrg4 hormone-like peptide via type-I IFN (a preclinical result).
Ecrg4 is a wound-terminating factor in skin
In mouse skin, Ecrg4 messenger RNA and protein localised to epidermis, dermis and hair follicles and redistributed to the wound margins, rising 5-10 days after injury as a late-phase response gene. Over-expressing Ecrg4 inhibited fibroblast migration (without affecting proliferation) and delayed wound closure — supporting Ecrg4 as a 'wound-terminating factor' that helps bring tissue repair to an orderly stop (a preclinical result).
ECRG4 suppresses glioma proliferation and invasion
ECRG4 messenger RNA was reduced in 9 of 10 glioma tissues versus matched normal brain. In human U251 glioma cells, restoring ECRG4 significantly decreased proliferation and colony formation, inhibited migration and invasion, and arrested the cell cycle at the G1-to-S transition; nuclear NF-kB protein fell as ECRG4 rose — supporting ECRG4 as a tumor suppressor in glioma (a cell study with tumour-tissue expression).
ECRG4 lowers esophageal-cancer proliferation
ECRG4 suppressed Fas-induced apoptosis in Jurkat cells and its messenger RNA was down-regulated in tumour cells; expressing ECRG4 suppressed cell growth. Using a new anti-ECRG4 antibody, ECRG4-positive cells tended to be Ki-67-negative, and there was a significant inverse correlation between ECRG4 expression and the Ki-67 proliferation index in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma — the first functional evidence linking endogenous ECRG4 to lower proliferation (a cell study with tumour-tissue expression).
ECRG4 promotes growth in papillary thyroid cancer (the context exception)
Unlike in most tumors, ECRG4 was up-regulated in about 70% of papillary thyroid cancer samples (with demethylation of its promoter). Over-expressing ECRG4 in thyroid cancer cell lines promoted proliferation and drove the cell cycle from G1 into G2 without changing apoptosis — showing a context-dependent tumor-PROMOTING function of ECRG4 in papillary thyroid carcinoma, in contrast to its tumor-suppressive role elsewhere (a cell study with tumour-tissue expression).
No Established Human Dose
Augurin is an endogenous ECRG4-derived peptide that has never been given to people as a treatment. The human work measures the ECRG4 gene and peptide in tissue, and the functional work is in animals and cells. No regulator has approved any dose, and no published human dose exists, so no amount is printed here.
What this rests on: PMID 26150152, PMID 28123880, PMID 22899245.
Educational information, not medical advice. The doses on this page come from approved labels, published studies and, where no study exists, amounts reported by users. None is a recommendation for you. An unapproved compound has no established safe or effective human dose, and products sold for “research use only” are not made or tested for people. Talk to a doctor before acting on anything on this site, including before you start, stop or change any medicine or dose. Full medical disclaimer.
What a Buyer Needs to Know
What is sold, how it is mixed, stored and taken, and what is known about its safety, quality and legal status. Each part names its source. Where we have none, it says unknown.
What is sold
Unknown: we hold no label and no published test that says what forms or vial sizes Augurin (ECRG4) is sold in. A vial's own label is a seller's claim, not a source.
Mixing a vial: a worked example
Unknown: no human dose of Augurin (ECRG4) has been established (see No Established Human Dose below), so there is no amount to work out. The reconstitution calculator does the arithmetic for any vial, water and dose.
Storage before and after mixing
Unknown: no label or published stability study on file says how to store Augurin (ECRG4), before or after mixing. The mixing guide sets out the general rules, with their sources: keep a mixed vial in the fridge, and use it promptly, as the bacteriostatic water label says of any drug dissolved in it. The 28 days often quoted is the limit for an opened multiple-dose vial from a manufacturer, an outer limit set for sterility, not a time a mixed solution has been shown to keep. Nobody has published how long Augurin (ECRG4) stays intact once mixed.
How it is taken
Unknown: with no established human dose, there is no established way of taking Augurin (ECRG4). What the human studies gave and how is set out under No Established Human Dose.
What to expect, and when
How long it stays in the body: a half-life of not established for humans as a drug; an endogenous secreted peptide. After about five half-lives almost none is left.
When effects appear: unknown; no source on this page gives a time to effect for Augurin (ECRG4). Results reported in the studies are under Published Research.
Source: half-life: PMID 26150152.
Side effects, and when to stop or get help
From the Side Effects section: No human adverse-event data exist: no published study has administered augurin to people; In animals and cells it restrains tumour-cell growth and supports anti-tumor immunity and wound termination (PMIDs 20598162, 28123880, 22899245) — preclinical signals, not a human safety profile; Its effect is context-dependent — a tumor suppressor in most cancers but growth-promoting in papillary thyroid cancer (PMID 25326809); Material sold online as 'augurin' is an unregulated research chemical of unverified content. Full list and cautions ↓
When to stop or get help: unknown; no label or trial on file sets rules for stopping Augurin (ECRG4). Treat a severe or unexpected reaction as a reason to stop and see a doctor.
Source: the Side Effects section below (“Augurin is a research peptide that has not been given to people as a drug, so there is no human safety profile; the points below reflect that research status”).
Interactions
Unknown: a PubMed search for human interaction studies of Augurin (ECRG4) (reviewed 2026-11-06) found none. Unknown is not the same as safe to combine.
Every peptide's record, with its source: the interaction matrix.
Checking what you bought
Unknown: no published independent test of Augurin (ECRG4) products is in our lab-results database yet, so how products sold under this name measure up is not known.
To read a certificate of analysis, paste it into the COA decoder. Trust & Verification explains what independent testing can and cannot show.
Legal status
US: Research Chemical (Not a drug: Drugs@FDA and the openFDA label endpoint hold no record, and FDA GSRS and ChEMBL hold no substance record for augurin / ECRG4 (searched November 6, 2026)). Sport: Not on the 2026 List.
Country by country ↓ · Regulatory tracker
Source: this entry's approval status and the WADA Prohibited List, as in Legal Status below.
Side Effects & Contraindications
Reported Side Effects
Augurin is a research peptide that has not been given to people as a drug, so there is no human safety profile; the points below reflect that research status.
Contraindications & Cautions
Augurin has no approved use and no label. These points reflect its research status.
Legal Status
Augurin (the ECRG4 peptide) is an endogenous peptide studied as a research compound; it is not a drug and is not approved in any country.
Frequently Asked Questions
?What is augurin?
Augurin is the secreted peptide made from the ECRG4 gene (esophageal cancer-related gene 4, or C2orf40). The ECRG4 precursor is processed into augurin and shorter secreted peptides.
?What does it do?
It generally acts as a tumor suppressor — pausing the cell cycle, promoting apoptosis and curbing invasion (PMIDs 20598162, 23957914) — and as a secreted signal it supports anti-tumor immune surveillance (PMID 28123880) and terminates wound healing (PMID 22899245). In papillary thyroid cancer it instead promotes growth (PMID 25326809).
?Is it the same as ECRG4?
Augurin is the main secreted peptide of the ECRG4 gene; the literature often refers to the gene 'ECRG4' and the peptide 'augurin' interchangeably. Shorter peptides (CΔ16-augurin, ecilin, argilin) also come from the same precursor.
?Is it approved or available to buy?
No. Augurin is not a medicine, has no FDA application or label, and is approved nowhere. Material sold online as augurin is an unregulated research chemical. Grey Peptides lists no sellers and recommends no source; this page records the published science.
References
- [review] Porzionato A, et al. "ECRG4 expression in normal rat tissues: expression study and literature review." Eur J Histochem, 2015;59(2):2458. PMID: 26150152.
- [animal] Moriguchi T, et al. "Ecrg4 contributes to the anti-glioma immunosurveillance through type-I interferon signaling." Oncoimmunology, 2016;5(12):e1242547. PMID: 28123880.
- [animal] Shaterian A, et al. "The candidate tumor suppressor gene Ecrg4 as a wound terminating factor in cutaneous injury." Arch Dermatol Res, 2013;305(2):141-9. PMID: 22899245.
- [mechanism] Li W, et al. "Overexpression of candidate tumor suppressor ECRG4 inhibits glioma proliferation and invasion." J Exp Clin Cancer Res, 2010;29(1):89. PMID: 20598162.
- [mechanism] Matsuzaki J, et al. "Expression of ECRG4 is associated with lower proliferative potential of esophageal cancer cells." Pathol Int, 2013;63(8):391-7. PMID: 23957914.
- [mechanism] Chen J, et al. "The tumor-promoting function of ECRG4 in papillary thyroid carcinoma and its related mechanism." Tumour Biol, 2015;36(2):1081-9. PMID: 25326809.
- [other] UniProt Q9H1Z8 (Augurin, ECRG4 / C2orf40 gene), read November 6, 2026: augurin is the secreted hormone-like peptide produced from the ECRG4 precursor, which is processed into augurin and shorter peptides (CΔ16-augurin, ecilin, argilin). https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/Q9H1Z8/entry
- [other] ECRG4 (esophageal cancer-related gene 4) was cloned from normal esophageal epithelium and its product named augurin; its status as a conserved, secreted candidate tumor-suppressor peptide, its wide tissue distribution (including choroid plexus and neuroendocrine cells), and its anti-proliferative, immune and wound-related actions are from the studies carded on this page (read November 6, 2026).
- [other] US FDA, Drugs@FDA and the drug label endpoint (openFDA), searched November 6, 2026: no application and no label record for augurin / ECRG4. It is an endogenous peptide, not a registered drug; FDA GSRS and ChEMBL hold no substance record for the peptide.
Sources & Citations
The six studies carded above were read from their PubMed records on November 6, 2026. Identity comes from UniProt (Q9H1Z8, Augurin): augurin is the secreted peptide of the ECRG4 / C2orf40 gene, processed with shorter peptides. Its wide tissue distribution and neuroendocrine presence, its tumor-suppressive cell-cycle and apoptosis effects (and the tumor-promoting exception in papillary thyroid cancer), its anti-glioma immunosurveillance via type-I interferon, and its wound-terminating role in skin are from the studies carded on this page; the absence of US approval and of a drug substance record from Drugs@FDA, openFDA, FDA GSRS and ChEMBL was checked the same day. Grey Peptides sells nothing and links to no vendor.
Medical Disclaimer: This content is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, and nothing here is an instruction to obtain or use any compound. Talk to a licensed clinician about your own situation.