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Thymosin-alpha-1

Thymalfasin, Zadaxin, Thymosin α1

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Studies 759

Trials 63

Overview Studies Clinical Trials

Score 1

1991 pubmed

The octapeptide corresponding to the region of the highest homology between alpha-interferon and thymosin-alpha 1 effectively competes with both cytokines for common high-affinity receptors on murine thymocytes.

Zav'yalov. V P VP; Navolotskaya. E V EV; Abramov. V M VM; Galaktionov. V G VG; Isaev. I S IS; Kaurov. O A OA; Kozhich. A T AT; Maiorov. V A VA; Prusakov. A N AN; Vasilenko. R N RN

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Key Findings

An octapeptide from human IFN‑alpha2 binds murine thymocyte receptors with very high affinity (Kd ≈4.2 pM).
Binding of this peptide is competitively inhibited by human IFN‑alpha2, thymosin‑alpha‑1, and a similar octapeptide (Ki in the 10⁻⁷–10⁻⁹ M range).
The peptide can trigger murine thymocyte blast transformation at 10⁻¹¹ M when combined with concanavalin A.

Practical Outcomes

For biohackers, the work is mainly basic science and doesn’t translate into a usable protocol or dosage for humans. It suggests thymosin‑alpha‑1 may share receptor pathways with interferon‑alpha, but more human‑focused research is needed before any practical application.

Summary

This mouse study shows that a tiny piece of interferon‑alpha can stick tightly to mouse thymocyte receptors and can block the same spots that natural interferon‑alpha and thymosin‑alpha‑1 use, but it doesn’t tell us how to use thymosin‑alpha‑1 in people or give any dosing tips.

Abstract

The octapeptide corresponding to human interferon-alpha 2 (Hu IFN-alpha 2) sequence 131-138 has high affinity to murine thymocyte receptors (Kd = 4.2 x 10(-12) M, about 700 receptors per cell). The peptide receptor binding is inhibited by both Hu rIFN-alpha 2 (Ki = 8.6 x 10(-10) M) and thymosin-alpha 1 (TM-alpha 1) (Ki = 3 x 10(-7) M) as well as by the octapeptide homologous to the TM-alpha 1 sequence 16-23 (Ki = 4.5 x 10(-7) M). The peptide from IFN-alpha 2 (131-138) activates murine thymocyte blast transformation at a concentration of 10(-11) M in the presence of 2.5 micrograms/ml of concanavalin A.

Study Information

Provider

pubmed

Year

1991

Date

1991-01-28T00:00:00.000Z

DOI

10.1016/0014-5793(91)80113-h