The study looked at a pancreatic tumor and found that the C‑peptide part of proinsulin gets chopped up inside the tumor cells by an enzyme called cathepsin B, creating several short fragments, while insulin itself stays whole. This is a basic science finding and doesn’t give any direct advice or new uses for peptides like thymosin‑beta‑4‑fragment in everyday health or performance routines.

An extract of a neuroendocrine tumor of the human pancreas contained a high concentration of insulin and the C-peptide of proinsulin, as determined by radioimmunoassay, together with somatostatin, calcitonin, and thymosin beta 4. Analysis of the molecular forms of the proinsulin-derived peptides by high-performance liquid chromatography demonstrated that insulin was stored in the tumor as the intact peptide. In contrast, metabolites of C-peptide, representing the (1-21), (1-23), (1-25) and (1-29) N-terminal fragments, were isolated from the extract in addition to intact C-peptide. Generation of these metabolites involves cleavage of Xaa-Leu or Leu-Xaa bonds. Previous immunohistochemical studies have identified cathepsin B in secretory granules and lysosomes of human insulinoma cells. Synthetic human C-peptide was rapidly cleaved by purified human cathepsin B, primarily at the site of leucine residues, to give several metabolites, including the (1-25) and (1-23) fragments. The data indicate that the C-peptide of proinsulin is selectively metabolized in the neoplastic B cell by a mechanism that involves proteolytic cleavages in the C-terminal region of the peptide.