A tiny study gave 12 liver‑cancer patients a peptide called thymosin‑alpha‑1 alongside their usual chemo‑embolization and saw no serious side effects, a modest boost in certain immune cells, and a longer survival compared to patients who got chemo‑embolization alone. The results are promising but come from a very small, non‑blinded trial, so they’re not a solid guide for healthy people yet.

To evaluate the tolerability and therapeutic potential of the immunostimulating adjuvant alpha-1-thymosin in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Twelve patients with hepatocellular carcinoma were treated with alpha-1-thymosin (900 micrograms/m2 subcutaneously twice per week for 6 months) and transcatheter arterial chemoembolization and compared to a historical control group (matched for gender, age, Okuda staging, Child's score, alpha-fetoprotein serum levels and viral infection) treated with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization alone. No severe side effects were recorded in the 2 treatment groups. The combination of alpha-1-thymosin plus transcatheter arterial chemoembolization resulted in a longer survival that reached statistical significance 7 months after the end of treatment (p < 0.05). Patients receiving combined treatment demonstrated a significant increase in peripheral blood mononuclear cells expressing CD3 (p < 0.05) and CD8 (p < 0.025) 3 months after beginning treatment. They also had a significant increase (p < 0.05) in CD16+ and CD56+ cells after 1 month, and a slight reduction in mononuclear cells expressing CD25, a marker for cell activation. No alterations in the response to phytohemagglutinin stimulation were seen during the alpha-1-thymosin treatment. The absence of toxicity and the favourable effects observed in this open study call for a double blind control study to confirm the efficacy of the combined treatment.