The study looked at people with psoriasis and found many had an off‑balance between two types of immune cells (helper and suppressor T‑cells). In a tiny group, adding the peptide thymalin (along with another compound) helped fix this imbalance and the skin rash got better in most cases. The results suggest thymalin might aid immune correction in severe psoriasis, but the evidence is very limited.

We investigated the levels of T-lymphocytes and their subpopulations-T-helper cells (TH) and T-suppressor cells (TS)-in the peripheral blood of 57 patients suffering from various clinical forms of psoriasis. Considerable decrease of the TH/TS rate (0.2 to 1.2) was found in 29 patients (15 with vulgar, 8 with arthropatic, and 6 with exudative psoriasis). The total number of T-lymphocytes was normal in 20 of these patients. In 8 patients showing a marked disbalance of TH and TS immunomodulators, thymalin and natrii nucleinas were included in the complex schedule of antipsoriatic therapy. As a result of the immunocorrective therapy, the disbalance normalized in 6 cases accompanied by regression of the psoriatic rash. The disbalance of TH and TS in the peripheral blood of the patients has a certain pathogenic significance in the development of psoriasis, and immunocorrection becomes necessary for successful therapy in severer forms of the disease.