An immunomodulatory peptide derived from the thymus gland, approved in several countries for hepatitis B/C and studied for immune enhancement in cancer and infectious diseases.
There is developing evidence that certain thymosin peptides and lymphokines produce a transient increase in steroid hormones when introduced systemically. Conversely, the repressive effect of adrenocortical steroids on the immune system is well docum…
Pure RBC aplasia (PRCA) and myasthenia gravis (MG) are occasionally associated with thymoma, although the occurrence of all three in a single patient is rare. We describe a patient in whom PRCA and MG occurred in conjunction with the presence of seru…
Sixteen monoclonal antibodies specific for thymosin alpha 1 [Low et al., J. biol. Chem. 254, 981-986 (1979)] obtained from two fusions with the spleens of three mice [Stähli et al., Meth. Enzym. 92, 26-36 (1982b)] all react with an epitope in the C-t…
In this report we further show the utility and efficiency of polymer-bound 1-hydroxybenzotriazole (PHBT) as an almost ideal support for the polymeric reagent method of peptide synthesis. This was demonstrated by the synthesis of thymosin alpha 1 (15-…
Cell surface marker analyses conducted on human peripheral blood lymphoid cells have proven extremely useful in the diagnosis of immunodeficiency and the diagnosis and staging of malignancies. In this paper we have focused on the ratio of helper to s…
We studied the interaction of the thymic hormone thymosin alpha 1 with peripheral blood B and T lymphocytes in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG), using antibodies against thymosin alpha 1 in an immunofluorescence technique. Eleven of 16 patients w…
More than 1 year is required for immunologic function to recover following human marrow grafting. In an attempt to shorten the time required for immunologic reconstitution, 14 patients were treated with thymosin fraction 5 after transplantation. Two…
The effect of iv injection in C57BL/6 mice of 3X10(7) bone marrow cells preincubated in either thymosin fraction V or thymosin alpha-1 was evaluated on the growth of a 3-methylcholanthrene-induced transplantable tumor in a syngeneic system. The effec…
The helical C-terminal portion of the thymic hormone thymosin alpha 1 exhibits immunological activities in several in vitro assays. The C-terminal region spanning positions 17-28 was subdivided into 11 overlapping peptide segments to collect further…
Multi-step fractionations by solvent extractions, gel filtrations, ion-exchange chromatography, etc., of bovine thymus extracts were monitored by a standardized assay, in vitro, which led to the described peptides, thymones A, B and C. The assay uses…
Adult male mice were treated with various doses of 6-hydroxydopamine in order to assess the effects of this drug upon thymic dependent immunity. A consistent decrease in primary antibody titers to sheep erythrocytes was observed following treatment w…
Using an indirect fluorescent antibody technique, localization of thymosin alpha 1, thymosin beta 3 and thymosin fraction 6 was studied in human thymus glands ranging in age from newborn to 62 yr old. Thymosin alpha 1 was detected specifically in thy…
Studies were carried out to assess the ability of thymosin alpha 1 to prolong the survival of mice challenged with Candida albicans. Two- to four-month-old mice were treated with graded doses of thymosin alpha 1 before, after, or before and after int…
A sensitive and specific radioimmunoassay (RIA) has been developed to measure thymosin alpha 1 in human blood and tissue extracts. Thymosin alpha 1, originally isolated from bovine thymosin fraction 5, has an identical primary structure in bovine and…
Thymosin fraction 5, a family of acidic polypeptides isolated from bovine thymus, contains several hormonal-like factors which have been shown to influence the maturation, differentiation and functions of T-cells. Some of these peptides have been che…