The short version of 胸腺素α1 fits in a sentence. The long version — which is the one that helps — is below.
This page was last updated on 2026-08-01 and is reviewed periodically as new material appears.
Thymosin alpha 1 is approved as a medicine in several countries, including Italy and China, for indications such as chronic hepatitis B and as an immune adjuvant. It is not approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration as a therapeutic product. In research settings the peptide appears in studies of sepsis, vaccine response, and oncology support, often with mixed or inconclusive results. The evidence base is uneven, and reviews note that many trials were small. Regulatory status therefore differs widely between jurisdictions.
Thymosin alpha 1 is a synthetic 28-amino-acid peptide first isolated in 1966 from thymosin fraction 5, a bovine thymus extract. Its chain begins with an acetylated serine residue and ends with asparagine. The native peptide carries a molecular mass near 3,108 daltons. Researchers classify it as an immunomodulatory agent rather than a hormone with a single endocrine target. Early work framed it as a thymus-derived factor that supports T-cell maturation. The synthetic form used in research and clinical products matches the natural sequence.
Immune signaling studies link thymosin alpha 1 to Toll-like receptor pathways, particularly TLR2 and TLR9, on dendritic cells and other antigen-presenting cells. Activation of these receptors promotes maturation of T cells and increases natural killer cell activity. The peptide shifts cytokine output toward a T helper 1 profile, raising interferon gamma and interleukin 2 while modulating interleukin 10. Whether these effects translate into clinical benefit for any specific disease remains a subject of debate. Reported outcomes vary across trials and populations.
Whether the free 28-residue peptide circulates in human tissue remains debated. The best-documented human source is prothymosin alpha, a larger acidic protein that carries the sequence at its N-terminus. Reports of measurable peptide levels in serum and lymphoid tissue exist, yet some of that signal may come from cross-reacting fragments or from the parent protein. Most reviews therefore treat prothymosin alpha as the established human molecule and describe independent circulation of the small peptide as an unresolved question.
Immunological studies connect the peptide to multiple parts of the immune response. It has been reported to engage Toll-like receptor signaling, to promote dendritic cell maturation, and to influence the balance of T helper cell subsets. Changes in natural killer cell activity and in cytokine release appear in cell culture and animal models. These observations describe broad immunomodulatory behavior rather than a single defined receptor target, and the primary molecular interaction has not been settled.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Molecular mass | ≈3,108 Da | Synthetic 28-residue peptide |
| Amino acid count | 28 | N-terminal serine carries an acetyl group |
| Appearance | White to off-white powder | Lyophilized solid |
| Water solubility | Freely soluble | Dissolves in aqueous buffer |
| Common synonyms | Thymalfasin; Tα1 | Thymalfasin is the international nonproprietary name |
Clinical interest has centered on chronic viral hepatitis, on immune restoration in various conditions, and on use as an adjuvant intended to improve responses to vaccines. Trials have reported mixed results, and regulatory status differs sharply between countries; in some places it is a prescription product, while elsewhere it is sold without an approved therapeutic indication. Because published studies vary widely in design, population, and endpoints, comparisons across them are difficult and no single conclusion covers the whole literature.
Thymosin alpha 1 is a short peptide of 28 amino acid residues that derives from the amino terminal region of a larger precursor protein known as prothymosin alpha. The peptide carries an acetyl group on its first residue and contains no disulfide bonds or carbohydrate chains. Its sequence is highly conserved across mammalian species, which is one reason laboratories treat it as a molecule with a defined and reproducible structure rather than a variable tissue extract. The name follows an early naming convention for thymus-derived fractions and does not imply that the peptide acts as a hormone in the classical endocrine sense.
20世纪70年代，研究者从胸腺提取物中纯化出多种小肽，Tα1是其中被较早表征的一种。最初的制备依赖组织匀浆和层析步骤，产量低且成分复杂。随着固相肽合成技术成熟，实验室和工业界能够生产与天然序列一致的合成版本。合成肽的纯度可达95%以上，并可通过反相高效液相色谱和质谱进行鉴定。这一转变使研究不再依赖动物胸腺来源。
市售的胸腺素α1通常以冻干粉形式提供，溶解后用于注射。其氨基酸组成包括多个酸性残基，因此在中性pH下带负电荷。该肽可溶于水和生理盐水，但在有机溶剂中溶解度有限。储存条件通常为冻干状态下负20摄氏度，溶解后需冷藏并避免反复冻融。常见的同义词包括胸腺肽α1、thymalfasin和Tα1。
== External links == The MEROPS online database for peptidases and their inhibitors: A01.004 beta-Secretase: Molecule of the Month Archived 2012-11-21 at the Wayback Machine, by David Goodsell, RCSB Protein Data Bank Human BACE1 genome location and BACE1 gene details page in the UCSC Genome Browser. Overview of all the structural information available in the PDB for UniProt: P56817 (Human Beta-secretase 1) at the PDBe-KB.
Berlin, Germany (suspended because of the Russo-Ukrainian war) Brno, Czech Republic (terminated because of the Russo-Ukrainian war) Chicago, United States (suspended because of the Russo-Ukrainian war) Düsseldorf, Germany (suspended because of the Russo-Ukrainian war) Kharkiv, Ukraine Kyiv, Ukraine Prague, Czech Republic (suspended since 2014 because of the Russo-Ukrainian war) Tallinn, Estonia Vilnius, Lithuania Warsaw, Poland (terminated because of the Russo-Ukrainian war)
Scientist Steven Salzberg identifies acupuncture and Chinese medicine generally as a focus for "fake medical journals" such as the Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies and Acupuncture in Medicine. As Singh and Ernst pointed out, Chinese publication bias for acupuncture is real, without being fraud.
== Other related disorders == When sIBM was originally described, the major feature noted was muscle inflammation. Two other disorders were also known to display muscle inflammation, and sIBM was classified along with them. They are dermatomyositis (DM) and polymyositis (PM) and all three illnesses were called idiopathic (of unknown origin) myositis or inflammatory myopathies. It appears that sIBM and polymyositis share some features, especially the initial sequence of immune system activation, however, polymyositis comes on over weeks or months, does not display the subsequent muscle degeneration and protein abnormalities as seen in IBM, and as well, polymyositis tends to respond well to treatments, IBM does not. IBM is often confused with (misdiagnosed as) polymyositis. Polymyositis that does not respond to treatment is likely IBM. Dermatomyositis shares a number of similar physical symptoms and histopathological traits as polymyositis, but exhibits a skin rash not seen in polymyositis or sIBM. It may have different root causes unrelated to either polymyositis or sIBM. Mutations in valosin-containing protein (VCP) cause multisystem proteinopathy (MSP), which can present (among others) as a rare form of inclusion body myopathy.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Medea (Ancient Greek: Μήδεια, Mēdeia) is a tragedy based on a myth, written by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides. It was first performed in 431 BC as part of a trilogy, the other plays of which have not survived. Its plot centers on the actions of Medea, a former princess of the kingdom of Colchis and the wife of Jason. She finds her position in the world threatened as Jason leaves her for a princess of Corinth and takes vengeance on him by murdering his new wife, his new father-in-law, and her own two sons. She then escapes to Athens to start a new life. Euripides's play has been retold and reinterpreted for centuries. Playwrights across the world have explored it in a variety of ways, offering political, psychoanalytical, feminist, and many other original readings of Medea, Jason, and the core themes of the play. Medea, along with three other plays, earned Euripides third prize in the City Dionysia. Some believe that this indicates a poor reception, but "the competition that year was extraordinarily keen"; Sophocles, often winning first prize, came second. The play was initially rediscovered with Rome's Augustan drama, and then again in the 16th century. It has remained part of the tragedic repertoire, becoming a classic of the Western canon and the most frequently performed Greek tragedy in the 20th century. It experienced renewed interest in the feminist movement of the late 20th century, often being interpreted as a nuanced and sympathetic portrayal of Medea's struggle to take charge of her own life in a male-dominated world.
Eurogamer echoed criticism on the game's length; reviewer Tom Bramwell commented that "although I'm hard pressed to criticize what you get, the complete absence of everything we've learnt from the likes of Counter-Strike and everything since is frankly bizarre". Bramwell did, however, criticize the game's artificial intelligence and the occasional bug that caused a player to get stuck on a wall. PC Zone's Mark Hill was more lenient, praising the game's artificial intelligence as "intelligent as you could hope an AI enemy to be". In addition, Hill praised the game for showing more activity in the base, noting that "a whole world goes on around you, with people eating at a cantina and scientists doing their laundry. The complex is more alive than ever before". Hill also praised the focus "on a greater interaction with scientists as proper people rather than the two or three models that were cloned throughout the facility who kept repeating the same phrases", describing this as Blue Shift's "greatest achievement". PC Zone's review closed by commenting that "as a Dreamcast extra it works perfectly, but as a standalone PC title there's not nearly enough to it." In his negative review of the game, Jim Preston of NextGen recommended that players play the Half-Life mods They Hunger or Day of Defeat instead. The game sold around 800,000 units at retail, excluding digital sales on Steam.
Reconstruction of paleoenvironments of the sources. Because of the high-sensitivity of D content of terrestrial water to hydrological cycles, organic δD can reflect the environment of source formation. To the first order, DHRs of coals and n-alkanes from oils have been shown to correlate with paleolatitude. Source correlation. Marine and lacustrine environments are characterized by distinctly different δD values. Many studies have tried to relate measured δD with source types. For methane, D concentration and clumped isotopes is particularly diagnostic of sources. Possible maturity indicators. For example, isoprenoids synthesized by plants are strongly depleted in D (See "Observed variations in isotopic abundance" section), typically ~100‰ to n-alkyl lipids. This gap tends to decrease as rock matures because of the higher D/H exchange rates of isoprenoids. The correlation of δD difference between pristane, phytane and n-alkanes and other maturity indicators has been established across a wide maturity range. Another possible maturity indicator based on the "isotope slope" of δD vs. n-alkane chain length was proposed by Tang et al. Quantitative apportionment. Since alkanes are main components of oil and gas, the isotopic data of n-alkanes have been used to study their migration and mixing. The advantage of hydrogen isotopes over carbon is higher resolution because of larger fractionation. Studying the clumped isotopes of methane provides a new dimension of mixing-constraints. The mixing line in the clumped isotope notation space is a curve rather than a straight line.
hENT3 is expressed highly in the cerebral cortex, lateral ventricle, ovary and adrenal gland. hENT4 is more commonly known as the plasma membrane monoamine transporter (PMAT), as it facilitates the movement of organic cations and biogenic amines across the membrane.
The British troops had antiquated tactics—and in some cases antiquated weapons—against the mobile Boer forces with the destructive fire of their modern Mausers, the latest Krupp field guns and their novel tactics. On 7 December, a raid at Enslin Station further highlighted British weaknesses, notably their supply line, which was vulnerable to guerrilla attacks. The middle of December was disastrous for the British. In a period known as Black Week (10–15 December 1899), the British suffered defeats on three fronts. On 10 December, General Gatacre tried to recapture Stormberg railway junction about 80 kilometres (50 mi) south of the Orange River. Gatacre's attack was marked by administrative and tactical blunders and the Battle of Stormberg ended in a British defeat, with 135 killed and wounded and two guns and over 600 troops captured. At the Battle of Magersfontein on 11 December, Methuen's 14,000 British troops attempted to capture a Boer position in a dawn attack to relieve Kimberley. This too turned into a disaster when the Highland Brigade became pinned down by accurate Boer fire. After suffering from intense heat and thirst for nine hours, they eventually broke in ill-disciplined retreat. The Boer commanders, Koos de la Rey and Cronjé, had ordered trenches to be dug in an unconventional place to fool the British and give their riflemen a greater firing range. The plan worked, and this tactic helped to write the doctrine of the supremacy of the defensive position, using modern small arms and trench fortifications.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
It is a chain of 28 amino acids, with an acetyl group attached to the first serine residue. The synthetic version replicates this sequence. Its molecular mass is about 3,108 daltons.
It is usually described as an immunomodulatory peptide rather than a classic hormone. It acts on immune cells through receptor pathways. No single endocrine organ target defines its function.
Several countries, including Italy and China, allow it for specific indications. The FDA has not approved it as a drug in the United States. Availability depends on local regulation.
It is usually described as an immunomodulatory peptide rather than a classic circulating hormone. No endocrine gland is known to release it as a primary secretory product, and its measured presence in blood is not firmly established.