Ge Jie
StarGekko gecko Linnaeus
Traditionally used for
- Cough & breathing
- Urinary & fluids
- Fertility & vitality
- Energy & fatigue
☯ TCM Properties
Tonifies Lung Qi; Assists Yang; Aids the Kidneys in Grasping Qi; Nourishes Essence and Blood; Stops Cough
Traditional Chinese Uses
Ge Jie (gecko) is a warm, salty animal substance used in Chinese medicine to tonify Kidney Yang and Lung Qi, stop coughing and wheezing, and supplement Essence. It is used for chronic cough and asthma from Kidney failing to grasp Lung Qi — the pattern where the Kidney's grasping function is inadequate to anchor Lung Qi downward during respiration. It also addresses impotence, lower back weakness, and urinary incontinence from Kidney Yang deficiency. As a tonic for both Lung and Kidney simultaneously, it is used in chronic respiratory and reproductive weakness patterns.
Relationships
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Botanical Description
Ge Jie is the dried body of the tokay gecko (Gekko gecko), a large nocturnal lizard in the family Gekkonidae native to South and Southeast Asia and southern China. Adults reach 25-35 cm in total length and are easily recognised by their bluish-grey skin spotted with bright orange to red tubercles, large lidless eyes with vertical pupils, and characteristic loud territorial call from which the genus takes its name. For medicinal use the gecko is gutted, the eyes removed, the body splinted flat against thin bamboo sticks with the tail intact, and air-dried; the tail is considered the most potent part and pairs (male and female) are traditionally sold together. This is an animal product, not a plant.
Active Constituents
Low-molecular-weight peptide fraction (roughly 0.3 to 3 kDa)
Peptide mixtureThe fraction that carries most of the reported antitumour activity of medicinal gecko. In cell culture it induces apoptosis and inhibits proliferation and migration, with PI3K/Akt and MAPK/ERK signalling downregulated. An important caveat belongs with this entry: much of the peptide work was done on dried gecko authenticated as other Gekko species, so the composition of the Pharmacopoeia drug from Gekko gecko itself is less well characterised than the volume of literature suggests.
Protein component F2
ProteinA purified antitumour protein isolated from medicinal gecko that inhibits proliferation of A549 and BEL-7402 cells without affecting normal L02 cells, suppresses VEGF and phospho-ERK, and reduced tumour vascularity in H22-bearing mice. The same work reported that gecko extract inhibited thrombus formation in a zebrafish model, which is the only concrete basis for an anticoagulant caution with this drug.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Gekko reevesii, Gekko japonicus and at least fifteen further species sold as Ge Jie
This is the central practical hazard of the drug and it is documented, not suspected. A DNA mini-barcoding study of the trade analysed Gekko gecko against fifteen adulterant species, and a separate 16S study showed that the black-spotted tokay Gekko reevesii is morphologically so close to the red-spotted Gekko gecko that the two are routinely interchanged in TCM material, requiring a short barcode to separate them. The substitution is driven by rising demand against falling supply of a species now protected in China. Compounding it, the widely cited antitumour pharmacology is often not about this species: the 2008 esophageal carcinoma study, one of the most-cited papers on medicinal gecko, states that its material was authenticated as Gekko japonicus.
Clinical note: Do not treat published gecko pharmacology as evidence about Gekko gecko unless the paper names the binomial. For dispensing, require a supplier who authenticates by DNA and be aware that whole dried specimens are the form most easily substituted.
Warfarin, direct oral anticoagulants and antiplatelet agents
Gecko extract inhibited thrombus formation in a zebrafish thrombosis model in the 2026 F2 protein study. That is a single non-mammalian observation from a paper whose subject was angiogenesis, not haemostasis, and there are no mammalian coagulation data and no human data at all. It is enough to note, not enough to quantify.
Clinical note: No action needed on this evidence alone beyond ordinary vigilance if a patient on an anticoagulant is also taking gecko-containing formulae.
Immunosuppressants and biologic therapy
The gecko peptide literature reports effects on Akt, PI3K and MAPK pathways that are also central to immune cell signalling, and the drug is a dried whole vertebrate carrying a substantial foreign protein load. Neither the direction nor the magnitude of any effect on a patient's immune therapy has been studied.
Clinical note: Treat as unstudied rather than safe in transplant recipients and in patients on biologics.
CITES Appendix II permit requirement for international trade in Gekko gecko
Gekko gecko was added to CITES Appendix II at CoP18 in 2019, on a proposal from the European Union, India, the Philippines and the United States. The case for listing was the scale of the medicinal trade: more than 770,000 individuals exported annually on the documented record, with total international trade, including undocumented movement, likely above a million animals a year. The listing brings parts and derivatives within the permit system, so processed gecko products and finished formulae containing gecko are covered, not just whole dried animals. Independently of CITES, the species is a Class II protected animal in China. The IUCN currently assesses the species as Least Concern, which is why the instrument used was Appendix II trade monitoring rather than an Appendix I prohibition; a Least Concern assessment is not a statement that the trade is sustainable.
Clinical note: Any cross-border movement of this drug, including a practitioner carrying stock or a patient posting formulae internationally, needs CITES export and import documentation. Verify that a supplier can produce permits before buying, and note that the permit requirement follows the species into multi-ingredient products.
Dosage
| Form | Amount | Frequency | Duration | Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| decoction, or powder/pills | 3–6 g | Daily | — | — | 中国药典 2020 【用法与用量】3～6g，多入丸散或酒剂。 【性味与归经】咸，平。归肺、肾经。 — Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2020, quoted verbatim; route and cautions preserved. Replaces a cleared category-filler value. |
Dui Yao — Herb Pairs
The classical two-herb combinations this herb appears in, each with an action neither herb has alone.
Lung qi is tonified while the kidney is helped to grasp qi, arresting chronic wheezing from deficiency.
Core pair of a classical formula — Ren Shen Ge Jie San, Wei Sheng Bao Jian (Luo Tianyi)
Evidence Tier
Moderate evidence · 8 studiesRecorded studies by study design, strongest design at the top. This is a study-design tier only, not a GRADE rating: it does not weigh risk of bias, consistency or precision.
Systematic review / meta-analysis
0
Randomized controlled trial
0
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
0
In vitro / animal
8
3 verified · 5 unverified
Show 8 studies
- Specific DNA mini-barcoding for identification of Gekko gecko and its products
- Insights into traditional Chinese medicine: molecular identification of black-spotted tokay gecko, Gekko reevesii, and related species used as counterfeits based on mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene sequences
- Molecular authentication of Gekko gecko using multienzyme isothermal rapid amplification technology
- Authentication of Chinese Crude Drug, Gecko, by Allele-Specific Diagnostic PCR
- Antitumor effect and mechanism of Gecko on human esophageal carcinoma cell lines in vitro and xenografted sarcoma 180 in Kunming mice
- Gecko protein F2 inhibits tumor angiogenesis by suppressing the VEGF/MAPK/ERK signaling pathway
- Purification of Gekko Small Peptide Fraction and Its Effect of Inducing Apoptosis of EC 9706 Esophageal Cancer Cells by Inhibiting PI3K/Akt/GLUT1 Signaling Pathway
- Gecko proteins induce the apoptosis of bladder cancer 5637 cells by inhibiting Akt and activating the intrinsic caspase cascade
Other / unclassified
0
Verified: design read from PubMed for a DOI that resolves to the cited paper Unverified: taken from the study's recorded description
Clinical Studies
Specific DNA mini-barcoding for identification of Gekko gecko and its products
Analysed 274 COI sequences of Gekko gecko together with fifteen adulterant species and designed two short primer pairs, amplifying 200 bp and 133 bp fragments, able to separate the genuine drug from its counterfeits and to work on highly processed products where full-length barcoding fails. The paper is explicit that a considerable number of adulterants have entered the market because demand is rising while supply of this Class II protected species falls.
Insights into traditional Chinese medicine: molecular identification of black-spotted tokay gecko, Gekko reevesii, and related species used as counterfeits based on mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene sequences
Sixty-three specimens from seventeen species were sequenced at a 189 bp 16S locus. Genuine Gekko reevesii formed a monophyletic group separable from its counterfeits, among which the authors name Gekko gecko itself, noting that the red-spotted and black-spotted tokays are of very similar morphology. Read from the Ge Jie side, this is direct evidence that the two are interchanged in the trade in both directions and that dried material cannot be told apart reliably by eye.
Molecular authentication of Gekko gecko using multienzyme isothermal rapid amplification technology
Develops an isothermal amplification assay for Gekko gecko, aimed at authentication outside a fully equipped laboratory. Its existence is itself informative about the drug: three separate molecular authentication methods for one animal drug, spanning 2001 to 2026, indicate a substitution problem that morphological inspection has never solved.
Authentication of Chinese Crude Drug, Gecko, by Allele-Specific Diagnostic PCR
The earliest of the molecular authentication methods for this drug, establishing that the substitution problem in commercial Gecko was already recognised two decades before the CITES listing.
Antitumor effect and mechanism of Gecko on human esophageal carcinoma cell lines in vitro and xenografted sarcoma 180 in Kunming mice
Oral gecko powder reduced tumour weight in sarcoma 180-bearing mice and reduced viability of EC9706 and EC1 esophageal carcinoma cells, with apoptosis increasing dose-dependently on TUNEL and bFGF implicated in the mechanism. This is one of the most-cited papers on medicinal gecko and it is cited as evidence for Ge Jie, but its own methods section states the material was identified as Gekko japonicus, not Gekko gecko. It is therefore evidence about a different animal drug.
Gecko protein F2 inhibits tumor angiogenesis by suppressing the VEGF/MAPK/ERK signaling pathway
A purified gecko protein, F2, inhibited proliferation of A549 and BEL-7402 cells while sparing normal L02 cells, induced apoptosis, downregulated MEK2 and ERK on RNA-seq, and gave a 42.24% tumour inhibition rate with reduced CD31 vascularity in H22-bearing mice. Gecko extract also inhibited thrombus formation in zebrafish. The paper does not state the source binomial, so it cannot be attributed to Gekko gecko specifically.
Purification of Gekko Small Peptide Fraction and Its Effect of Inducing Apoptosis of EC 9706 Esophageal Cancer Cells by Inhibiting PI3K/Akt/GLUT1 Signaling Pathway
A purified small peptide fraction induced apoptosis in EC9706 esophageal cancer cells through inhibition of PI3K/Akt/GLUT1, implicating glucose transport in the mechanism. From the same research group as the 2008 study, which used Gekko japonicus material; the species of the peptide source is not stated here.
Gecko proteins induce the apoptosis of bladder cancer 5637 cells by inhibiting Akt and activating the intrinsic caspase cascade
Gecko proteins killed 5637 bladder cancer cells by apoptosis, suppressing Akt activation and engaging the intrinsic caspase cascade. The authors open by noting that gecko proteins have long been used as antitumour agents without a scientific basis. As with the other papers in this series, no source binomial is given, so it does not establish activity for Gekko gecko.
⚠ Safety & Contraindications
Contraindications
Its use is prohibited in patients with panting and coughs due to wind-cold or excess heat.
Source: Xi S, Gong Y. Essentials of Chinese Materia Medica and Medical Formulas. Academic Press/Elsevier, 2017, pp. 344–356.
Historical Texts
Lei Gong Pao Zhi Lun
Southern and Northern Dynasties, attributed to Lei XiaoKai Bao Ben Cao
Northern Song dynasty, 973Ben Cao Gang Mu
Ming dynasty, 1596References
- Su Y, Ding D, Yao M, Wu L, Dong G, Zhang D, Chen S, Xiang L. Specific DNA mini-barcoding for identification of Gekko gecko and its products . Chinese Medicine (2020) [DOI]
- Jiang J, Huo J, Zhang Y, Xu Y, Zhao C, Miao J. SMRT sequencing of the full-length transcriptome of Gekko gecko . PLOS ONE (2022) [DOI]
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.
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