BPC-157 Sequence: The 15 Amino Acids and What They Do
BPC-157 is a chain of 15 amino acids, the small units that cells join together to build proteins. Written in one-letter codes, the BPC 157 sequence is GEPPPGKPADDAGLV, and a 2004 rat study from China gives its mass as about 1,419 daltons. This guide goes through what the chain contains and what the published papers do and do not say about its parts. Wider background is in our overview of BPC-157.
What Is the BPC-157 Sequence?
Read from the start, the order is glycine, glutamic acid, three prolines, glycine, lysine, proline, alanine, two aspartic acids, alanine, glycine, leucine and valine. A 2004 paper in the World Journal of Gastroenterology lists this sequence with a relative molecular mass of 1,419. Its authors say they made the peptide in their own laboratory, and they describe it as a 15-amino-acid fragment of a larger peptide found in gastric juice.
Which Amino Acids Make Up the Chain?
Counting the residues, which is the name for amino acids once they sit in a chain, gives four prolines and three glycines. There are two alanines and two aspartic acids, plus one each of glutamic acid, lysine, leucine and valine. That adds up to 15. Our guide to what peptides are covers how single amino acids join into chains like this one.
Why Do the Prolines Stand Out?
Proline is unusual because its side chain loops back and bonds to the backbone, forming a ring. A 2009 simulation study in PNAS describes how this ring restricts the angle of the backbone and makes proline rigid. The same work modelled chains made only of proline, which can fold into helical shapes. BPC-157 has a run of three prolines at positions 3 to 5 and a fourth at position 8. Its other residues are varied, and no three-dimensional structure of BPC-157 itself appears in the papers read for this article.
Where Does the Name Come From?
BPC stands for body protection compound. The 2004 paper describes BPC as a peptide found in gastric juice, with BPC-157 as a 15-amino-acid piece of it. A 2024 review by the Zagreb group behind much of the published work says the peptide has no sequence homology with known gut peptides, meaning no matching stretch of residues. That is the group's own statement.
What Do the Studies Say About Each Position?
The papers read for this article test the whole 15-amino-acid chain. None of them tests what an individual position adds, so any statement about the job of a single residue goes beyond the published data. The wider literature is almost entirely animal and cell work, and a large share comes from one Croatian group. A 2019 review in Cell and Tissue Research made the same point about small rodent models and added that effects in humans are yet to be confirmed. Anyone comparing a vial with these papers is looking for the same 15-residue chain, supplied for example as BPC-157 10mg.
Identity is usually confirmed by measuring the molecular mass and comparing it with the published value of 1,419. Batch analysis, such as the reports on our lab reports page, shows the identity and purity checks behind a given lot.
Important: This article is for scientific information only. The peptides discussed are intended exclusively for scientific and laboratory research and are not intended for human or veterinary consumption, administration, diagnosis, treatment or therapeutic use.