Chromofungin
A short chromogranin-A fragment that punches holes in fungi and calms inflammation — protecting the gut, heart, brain and blood vessels in animal studies. A research peptide, not a drug
Chromofungin is a small piece of chromogranin A — specifically residues 47 to 66 — released from the N-terminal 'vasostatin' region of that granin protein, the same precursor that gives rise to catestatin, pancreastatin, serpinin and vasostatin. Its name comes from its first-described job: killing fungi. Chromofungin folds into a short helix that inserts into and crosses the membranes of yeasts and moulds, accumulating inside them and shutting down the calcium-sensing enzyme calcineurin, which makes it an antimicrobial peptide of the innate immune system. Later work has widened the picture into a broad anti-inflammatory peptide. It is depleted in the inflamed gut of people with ulcerative colitis, and given experimentally it calms colitis by steering immune cells (macrophages) toward an anti-inflammatory state and blocking the master inflammation switch NF-kB. The same anti-inflammatory, protective theme recurs elsewhere in animal and cell studies: chromofungin protects the heart against the damage of a blocked-then-restored blood supply, shields neurons from the toxic amyloid of Alzheimer's disease, and guards blood-vessel cells against the inflammation driven by fatty acids. Chromofungin is studied as a research peptide and a possible lead for inflammatory bowel disease; 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
Chromofungin is a chromogranin-A-derived peptide that has never been given to people as a treatment. The human study measures the body's own peptide in colon tissue, and the rest of the work is in animals and cells, where chromofungin is applied at experimental amounts that do not carry over to people.
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What is it?
Chromogranin A is a granin protein stored in the secretory granules of nerve, endocrine and immune cells, and when it is processed it releases a whole family of smaller active peptides. Chromofungin is one of them: it corresponds to residues 47-66 of chromogranin A, a stretch that lies within the N-terminal 'vasostatin-I' region (CgA 1-76). It is the most active antifungal fragment of vasostatin-I, which is how it got its name.
Its founding activity is antimicrobial. Chromofungin folds into a short alpha-helix that interacts with the cell wall and plasma membrane of yeasts and moulds — Aspergillus, Alternaria, Candida — crossing the membrane and accumulating inside the organism. Alongside this membrane disruption it inhibits calcineurin, a calcium- and calmodulin-dependent enzyme, extending the known ability of the N-terminal region of chromogranin A to bind calmodulin. Destabilising the fungal envelope and blocking a calmodulin-dependent enzyme together explain its antifungal power, and place chromofungin among the peptides of the innate immune system.
The larger body of recent work concerns inflammation, especially in the gut. In people with active ulcerative colitis, the amount of chromofungin in the colon is reduced, and its level tracks inversely with pro-inflammatory markers. Given into the colon of mice with experimental colitis, chromofungin reduces the severity of disease: it steers macrophages away from the pro-inflammatory 'M1' state toward the healing 'M2' state, lowers inflammatory cytokines, preserves the tight-junction proteins that seal the gut lining, and does so by damping NF-kB signalling and dendritic-cell activation. This makes chromofungin a candidate anti-inflammatory lead for inflammatory bowel disease.
The protective, anti-inflammatory theme repeats across other organs in animal and cell studies. In isolated rat hearts chromofungin has direct effects on contraction and, given at reperfusion, acts as a 'postconditioning' agent that shrinks the damage of ischemia/reperfusion injury through pro-survival kinase pathways and nitric oxide. In neuronal cells it protects against the toxicity and cellular ageing caused by the amyloid-beta of Alzheimer's disease. And in human aortic endothelial cells it blunts the inflammation driven by free fatty acids by activating AMPK and suppressing the NLRP3 inflammasome — a pathway relevant to atherosclerosis.
Chromofungin is a chromogranin-A-derived research peptide. No published study has given chromofungin to people as a treatment — the human work measures the body's own peptide in tissue, and the rest is animal and cell research — it is approved nowhere, and material sold online as 'chromofungin' 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
Chromofungin is chromogranin A(47-66), a helical peptide from the vasostatin-I region of CgA. It is an antimicrobial peptide that penetrates fungal membranes and inhibits calmodulin-dependent calcineurin, and a broad anti-inflammatory peptide that polarises macrophages toward the M2 state and inhibits NF-kB, with protective effects across the gut, heart, brain and vasculature.
Chromogranin-A / vasostatin-I processing
Chromofungin (CgA 47-66) is released from the vasostatin-I region of chromogranin A, the same precursor as catestatin, pancreastatin, serpinin and vasostatin, and binds calmodulin to inhibit calcineurin (PMID 11451958).
Antimicrobial membrane action
Its helix inserts into and crosses fungal and yeast membranes, accumulating inside the organism to kill it (PMID 11451958).
Anti-inflammatory + organ protection
Chromofungin steers macrophages to the M2 state and inhibits NF-kB to calm colitis (PMIDs 28827109, 28951733), protects the heart in ischemia/reperfusion (PMID 26151429) and shields endothelial and neuronal cells (PMIDs 39358914, 38795392).
Published Research
These are studies of chromofungin read from their PubMed abstracts on November 6, 2026. They include its discovery and antifungal characterisation, a study of its depletion in ulcerative-colitis tissue and its anti-inflammatory action on macrophages, an animal colitis study, a cardiac ischemia/reperfusion study, and cell studies of its endothelial and neuronal protection. Chromofungin has not been given to people as a treatment; the human work measures the body's own peptide.
Discovery and antifungal mechanism of chromofungin
Chromofungin was identified as the most active antifungal fragment of vasostatin-I, corresponding to chromogranin A residues 47-66 (Arg47-Leu66). NMR showed it adopts a helical structure; confocal microscopy showed the labelled peptide binds the fungal cell wall, crosses the plasma membrane and accumulates inside Aspergillus, Alternaria and Candida, and it inhibited calcineurin — so membrane destabilisation plus inhibition of calmodulin-dependent enzymes explain its antifungal activity (a structural/biochemical study).
Chromofungin is depleted in ulcerative colitis and calms macrophages
In tissue from people with active ulcerative colitis, chromofungin (CgA exon-IV) messenger RNA was downregulated versus healthy individuals and correlated negatively with pro-inflammatory (M1) macrophage cytokines, TLR-4 and NF-kB activity. In mouse colitis and in cultured macrophages, chromofungin treatment reduced disease severity and pro-inflammatory activation and migration through NF-kB — making it a candidate target in inflammatory bowel disease (a human observational plus preclinical study).
Chromofungin ameliorates colitis via M2 macrophages
In mice with experimental (DSS) colitis, intracolonic chromofungin reduced disease severity by priming macrophages toward the anti-inflammatory 'alternatively activated' (M2) state, cutting colonic collagen deposition and preserving intestinal-epithelial homeostasis and tight-junction proteins, with less interleukin-18. In patients with active colitis the peptide was reduced and tracked inversely with inflammatory markers — pointing to chromofungin as a protective, anti-inflammatory peptide in the gut (a preclinical result).
Chromofungin is cardioprotective in ischemia/reperfusion
In isolated perfused rat hearts, chromofungin (CgA 47-66) produced a dose-dependent negative inotropic (reduced-contraction) effect without changing coronary pressure, via the AKT/eNOS/cGMP/PKG pathway, and given at reperfusion it acted as a postconditioning agent that reduced infarct size and LDH release through the pro-survival RISK pathway, mitochondrial KATP channels and miR-21 — identifying it as a cardioprotective neuroendocrine modulator (a preclinical result).
Chromofungin protects endothelial cells from fatty-acid inflammation
In human aortic endothelial cells challenged with free fatty acids (a driver of atherosclerosis), chromofungin improved cell viability, reduced oxidative stress and NADPH-oxidase-4, and suppressed the NLRP3 inflammasome (NLRP3, ASC, cleaved caspase-1, IL-1-beta, IL-18) by restoring AMPK signalling; an AMPK inhibitor abolished the protection — suggesting chromofungin helps maintain endothelial function (a cell study).
Chromofungin protects neurons against amyloid-beta
In M17 neuronal cells exposed to oligomeric amyloid-beta, chromofungin dose-dependently rescued telomerase activity and reduced amyloid-beta-induced cellular senescence (lowering p21 and senescence staining), cut reactive oxygen species while raising superoxide dismutase, and reduced COX-2 and prostaglandin E; blocking COX-2 removed the benefit — suggesting chromofungin could be neuroprotective in Alzheimer's disease (a cell study).
No Established Human Dose
Chromofungin is a chromogranin-A-derived peptide that has never been given to people as a treatment. The human study measures the body's own peptide in colon tissue, and the rest of the work is in animals and cells, where chromofungin is applied at experimental amounts that do not carry over to people. No regulator has approved any dose, and no published human dose exists, so no amount is printed here.
What this rests on: PMID 11451958, PMID 28827109, PMID 28951733.
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 Chromofungin 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 Chromofungin 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 Chromofungin, 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 Chromofungin stays intact once mixed.
How it is taken
Unknown: with no established human dose, there is no established way of taking Chromofungin. 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; a chromogranin-A-derived 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 Chromofungin. Results reported in the studies are under Published Research.
Source: half-life: PMID 11451958.
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 chromofungin to people; In animals and cells it is anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective and antimicrobial (PMIDs 28951733, 26151429, 11451958) — preclinical signals, not a human safety profile; The human study measures reduced chromofungin in ulcerative-colitis tissue, not a treatment (PMID 28827109); Material sold online as 'chromofungin' 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 Chromofungin. Treat a severe or unexpected reaction as a reason to stop and see a doctor.
Source: the Side Effects section below (“Chromofungin 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 Chromofungin (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 Chromofungin 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 chromofungin (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
Chromofungin 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
Chromofungin has no approved use and no label. These points reflect its research status.
Legal Status
Chromofungin is a chromogranin-A-derived peptide studied as a research compound; it is not a drug and is not approved in any country.
Frequently Asked Questions
?What is chromofungin?
A short peptide made of residues 47-66 of chromogranin A — a fragment of the vasostatin-I region of that granin protein, related to catestatin, pancreastatin, serpinin and vasostatin.
?What does it do?
It was first described as an antifungal peptide that penetrates fungal membranes and inhibits calcineurin (PMID 11451958), and it is broadly anti-inflammatory — calming experimental colitis via M2 macrophages and NF-kB (PMIDs 28827109, 28951733) and protecting the heart, neurons and blood vessels in animal and cell studies (PMIDs 26151429, 38795392, 39358914).
?How is it related to vasostatin and catestatin?
All are peptides cut from chromogranin A; chromofungin (CgA 47-66) lies within the vasostatin-I region (CgA 1-76). Grey Peptides has separate entries for vasostatin, catestatin, pancreastatin and serpinin.
?Is it approved or available to buy?
No. Chromofungin is not a medicine, has no FDA application or label, and is approved nowhere. Material sold online as chromofungin is an unregulated research chemical. Grey Peptides lists no sellers and recommends no source; this page records the published science.
References
- [mechanism] Lugardon K, et al. "Structural and biological characterization of chromofungin, the antifungal chromogranin A-(47-66)-derived peptide." J Biol Chem, 2001;276(38):35875-82. PMID: 11451958.
- [clinical-trial] Eissa N, et al. "Chromofungin (CHR: CHGA(47-66)) is downregulated in persons with active ulcerative colitis and suppresses pro-inflammatory macrophage function through the inhibition of NF-κB signaling." Biochem Pharmacol, 2017;145:102-113. PMID: 28827109.
- [animal] Eissa N, et al. "Chromofungin Ameliorates the Progression of Colitis by Regulating Alternatively Activated Macrophages." Front Immunol, 2017;8:1131. PMID: 28951733.
- [animal] Filice E, et al. "Chromofungin, CgA47-66-derived peptide, produces basal cardiac effects and postconditioning cardioprotective action during ischemia/reperfusion injury." Peptides, 2015;71:40-8. PMID: 26151429.
- [mechanism] Lan Q, et al. "Chromofungin mitigates free fatty acids-induced endothelial inflammation via inhibition of NOD-like receptor thermal protein domain-associated protein 3 mediated by adenosine 5'-monophosphate-activated protein kinase." Biotechnol Appl Biochem, 2025;72(2):460-468. PMID: 39358914.
- [mechanism] Li Q, et al. "The protective effects of Chromofungin in oligomeric amyloid β(42) (Aβ(42))-induced toxicity in neurons in Alzheimer's disease." Aging (Albany NY), 2024;16(10):9216-9227. PMID: 38795392.
- [other] UniProt P10645 (chromogranin-A, CHGA gene), read November 6, 2026: chromofungin corresponds to chromogranin A residues 47-66, a fragment within the N-terminal vasostatin-I region of CgA, the same precursor that yields catestatin, pancreastatin, serpinin and vasostatin. https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P10645/entry
- [other] Chromofungin was identified as the most active antifungal fragment of vasostatin-I (chromogranin A 1-76), corresponding to CgA residues 47-66 (Arg47-Leu66); its helical structure, membrane-penetrating antimicrobial action and calcineurin inhibition, and its anti-inflammatory and cardioprotective 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 chromofungin. It is a chromogranin-A-derived peptide, not a registered drug; FDA GSRS and ChEMBL hold no substance record for it.
Sources & Citations
The six studies carded above were read from their PubMed records on November 6, 2026. Identity comes from UniProt (P10645, chromogranin-A): chromofungin is CgA(47-66), within the vasostatin-I region. Its helical structure, membrane-penetrating antifungal action and calcineurin inhibition, its depletion in ulcerative-colitis tissue and anti-inflammatory macrophage effects, and its cardioprotective, neuroprotective and endothelial-protective actions 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.