LL-37 dose range
The amounts people commonly use, from the low end to the high end, with syringe units, schedule and half-life. The 9 published studies are one click away.
Human trials Immune Also called cathelicidin, hCAP-18 fragment, CAP18, ropocamptide
Common use ranges
From user guides and clinic write-ups. No drug label exists, and no study has tested these amounts in people. Community guides and one doctor's education page agree on about 50 to 400 mcg once a day. One compounding guide gives a higher, less frequent range, so amounts differ up to tenfold.
Sources disagree, or there are very few. The amounts below come from a small number of guides, and they do not line up well. Treat every number on this page as uncertain, and check each source yourself.
- Half-life
- Not measured in any published study
- How it is taken
- Subcutaneous injection
- How long people use it
- 4 to 8 weeks for a short run, 8 to 12 weeks for longer ones. Some use 8 weeks on, 4 weeks off.
- Mixing used for the units
- 2 mg vial + 2 mL water. 1 unit on a U-100 insulin syringe = 10 mcg.
Pick your vial size and how much water you add. The units below change to match.
2 mg vial + 2 mL water: 1 unit = 10 mcg
| Tier | Each dose | Syringe units2 mg vial + 2 mL water | How often | Schedule | Vial lastsat this tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting [1] | 50 mcg | 5 units 0.05 mL | once a day | 50 to 100 mcg once a day, then raised by about 50 mcg a week if tolerated | about 6 weeks |
| Typical [2] | 150 mcg | 15 units 0.15 mL | once a day | 100 to 200 mcg once a day, some guides 5 days on and 2 days off | 13 days |
| Higher [3] | 300 mcg | 30 units 0.30 mL | once a day | 200 to 400 mcg once a day | 6 days |
Good to know
- There is no approved dose for injected LL-37. The only human trial used it on the skin for leg ulcers.
- One compounding-focused guide uses a different pattern: 100 to 1,000 mcg per shot, 3 to 5 times a week, built up slowly.
- Some people take it in the morning so any flu-like reaction passes before bed.
Sources for these amounts
- Starting: Outliyr, LL-37 report (conservative starter 50 to 100 mcg daily) · Peptide Protocol Wiki, LL-37 community protocols (start 50 mcg, add 50 mcg weekly) · Dr. Pat Taylor MD, LL-37 (50 to 100 mcg daily)
- Typical: Outliyr, LL-37 report (standard 100 to 200 mcg daily) · Peptide Protocol Wiki, LL-37 community protocols (standard immune protocol)
- Higher: Outliyr, LL-37 report (higher 200 to 400 mcg daily) · Peptide Protocol Wiki, LL-37 community protocols (acute protocol 200 to 400 mcg)
How long people use it: Dr. Pat Taylor MD, LL-37 · Peptide Protocol Wiki, LL-37 community protocols · Form Blends, LL-37 dosage protocols
Take the LL-37 chart with you
Get a one-page printable chart for LL-37, with the syringe units for each vial and water mix. We can also email you when a new LL-37 study is published.
This page shows what labels, clinics and users report, and what studies gave. It is not medical advice and not a recommendation for anyone. Many of these compounds are not approved for human use. Check your own medicines and lab work with a licensed clinician before using anything.
See the science: 9 published studies
Amounts given to people in studies
How it was given: On the wound
Also injected into a skin tumour weekly in a phase 1 melanoma trial, dose not published in the abstract
Amounts given to animals in studies
Read this first. Human use is topical, oral or injected into a tumour only. No person has been given LL-37 by vein or under the skin for a whole-body effect, so there is no human milligram-per-kilogram amount.
Every study used for this page
Proof grade: Human trials. Tested in randomized human trials. Amounts are quoted as each study reported them. Where the abstract does not state an amount, the row says so.
| Study | Who was studied | Amount given, as reported | Route | How often | How long | What the authors reported |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PMID 25041740Gronberg et al, Wound Repair Regen 2014 | Human, 34 adults with hard to heal venous leg ulcers | 0.5, 1.6 or 3.2 mg/mL (LOWEST human) | On the wound | twice a week | 4 weeks of treatment, 3 week run in, 4 week follow up | The two lower strengths healed faster than placebo. 3.2 mg/mL did not beat placebo. No safety problems |
| PMID 34687253Mahlapuu et al, Wound Repair Regen 2021 | Human, 148 adults with hard to heal venous leg ulcers, 3 arms | 0.5 or 1.6 mg/mL | On the wound | not in abstract | phase 2b trial | No healing benefit across the whole group. A post hoc subgroup with wounds over 10 cm2 did better. Safe at both strengths |
| PMID 29665030Dolkar et al, J Cutan Pathol 2018 | Human, 1 woman aged 63 with stage IIIC melanoma, from a phase 1 trial | Not stated in the abstract | Injected into the tumour | once a week | 8 injections | Injected lesions shrank, but she grew multiple wart-like and blistering skin lesions. All cleared within 2 months of stopping |
| PMID 37605995Zhao et al, J Med Virol 2023 | Human, 238 adult COVID-19 inpatients, randomized open label | Not stated in the abstract | By mouth | not in abstract | until viral clearance, with follow up | Shortened time to a negative test from 14.0 to 9.8 days when started within 6 days. No severe side effects |
| PMID 16641434Cirioni et al, Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2006 | Rat, adult male Wistar, three sepsis models (group sizes not in abstract) | 1 mg/kg | Into the vein | one time | single study | Cut deaths and bacterial growth as well as polymyxin B, and kept blood endotoxin and TNF-alpha lower than standard antibiotics did |
| PMID 38310763Wang et al, Int Immunopharmacol 2024 | Mouse, C57BL/6J, LPS lung injury (group sizes not in abstract) | 2.5 and 5.0 mg/kg (as the mouse equivalent, CRAMP) | not in abstract | not in abstract | not in abstract | Less lung cell pyroptosis and lower NLRP3, caspase-1 and GSDMD signalling |
| PMID 31424299Chou and Chen, Ren Fail 2019 | Rat, newborn Sprague Dawley pups, 6 groups (group sizes not in abstract) | 4 mg/kg and 8 mg/kg (HIGHEST verified) | Into the belly | once a day | postnatal days 1 to 6 | Less kidney injury, less oxidative damage and less collagen laid down after high oxygen exposure |
| PMID 38972467Esposito et al, Eur J Pharm Biopharm 2024 | Mouse, healthy (group sizes not in abstract) | just over 20 mcgrams | Into the vein, and under the skin in the second arm | one time | imaged over 48 h | Left the blood fast after a vein dose, mostly through the liver. Under the skin it absorbed in two phases and left through the kidneys |
| PMID 23500517Flick-Smith et al, Peptides 2013 | Mouse, respiratory tularemia model (group sizes not in abstract) | Not stated in the abstract | Into the nose | short course, schedule not in abstract | short course | Slowed bacterial growth in the lung and lengthened survival time, but the protection did not hold and the mice still died |
How to read the study numbers
- One study, one group. Each figure is what one team chose for its own participants or animals.
- Route matters. An amount given into a vein (IV) is not the same as the same amount under the skin, in the nose or by mouth.
- Animals are not small people. An animal amount is shown as the study gave it. It is not a human amount.
- Short studies. Many studies ran days or weeks. They do not show what happens over longer use.
Common questions
What amounts of LL-37 were used in human studies?
In the studies listed here, people were given from 0.5 mg/mL twice a week up to 3.2 mg/mL (no better than placebo). The amount used most often was 0.5 to 1.6 mg/mL. These are what study teams chose for their participants under supervision.
Where do these LL-37 numbers come from?
From 9 published studies, each linked to its PubMed or ClinicalTrials.gov record. Every figure was checked against the study abstract or its open full text. Proof grade: Human trials.
How long does LL-37 stay in the body?
No published study has measured the half-life of LL-37, so nobody knows exactly how long one dose stays in the blood.
Is this a recommendation for how much LL-37 to use?
No. This page shows the amounts reported by drug labels, clinics and users, next to what researchers gave in studies. It is not medical advice and not a recommendation for anyone. Talk to a licensed clinician before using any of it.