Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Clinical and Experimental Immunology logoLink to Clinical and Experimental Immunology
. 1987 Nov;70(2):263–267.

Serum thymosin-alpha 1: lack of association between elevated levels and HIV infection.

S J Chen 1, H S Ko 1
PMCID: PMC1542079  PMID: 3427822

Abstract

Serum thymosin-alpha 1 levels as detected by radioimmunoassay (RIA) have been reported to be elevated in AIDS. We studied 143 individuals in two risk groups for AIDS (male homosexuals and haemophiliacs) for serum thymosin-alpha 1 and antibodies to HIV. RIA for thymosin-alpha 1 was performed in Dr A. Goldstein's laboratory at George Washington University, Washington DC. We found that similar proportions of seropositive and seronegative subjects within each risk group showed elevated thymosin-alpha 1 levels. Retesting after 6 months did not reveal significant increments over previous levels in seropositive subjects or in those developing HIV antibodies in the repeat samples. Thus, although elevated thymosin-alpha 1 levels might be a possible serum marker for AIDS, their association with HIV infection was not demonstrated. In addition, the male homosexuals we studied showed significantly lower thymosin-alpha 1 levels than haemophiliacs but this difference remains to be explained.

Full text

PDF
263

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Broder S., Gallo R. C. A pathogenic retrovirus (HTLV-III) linked to AIDS. N Engl J Med. 1984 Nov 15;311(20):1292–1297. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198411153112006. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Coffin J. M. Genetic variation in AIDS viruses. Cell. 1986 Jul 4;46(1):1–4. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90851-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Dardenne M., Bach J. F., Safai B. Low serum thymic hormone levels in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. N Engl J Med. 1983 Jul 7;309(1):48–49. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198307073090112. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Goldstein A. L., Naylor P. H., Schulof R. S., Simon G. L., Sztein M. B., Kessler C. M., Robert-Guroff M., Gallo R. C. Thymosin in the staging and treatment of HTLV-III positive homosexuals and hemophiliacs with AIDS-related immune dysfunction. Adv Exp Med Biol. 1985;187:129–140. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4615-9430-7_14. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hersh E. M., Reuben J. M., Rios A., Mansell P. W., Newell G. R., McClure J. E., Goldstein A. L. Elevated serum thymosin alpha 1 levels associated with evidence of immune dysregulation in male homosexuals with a history of infectious diseases or Kaposi's sarcoma. N Engl J Med. 1983 Jan 6;308(1):45–46. doi: 10.1056/nejm198301063080113. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Incefy G. S., Ishimura K., Wang J. G., Unson C. G., Erickson B. W. A radioimmunoassay for thymosin alpha-1. J Immunol Methods. 1986 May 1;89(1):9–17. doi: 10.1016/0022-1759(86)90026-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Incefy G. S., Pahwa S., Pahwa R., Sarngadharan M. G., Menez R., Fikrig S. Low circulating thymulin-like activity in children with AIDS and AIDS-related complex. AIDS Res. 1986 Spring;2(2):109–116. doi: 10.1089/aid.1.1986.2.109. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. McClure J. E., Lameris N., Wara D. W., Goldstein A. L. Immunochemical studies on thymosin: radioimmunoassay of thymosin alpha 1. J Immunol. 1982 Jan;128(1):368–375. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Naylor P. H., Schulof R. S., Sztein M. B., Spira T. J., McCurdy P. R., Darr F., Kessler C. M., Simon G. L., Goldstein A. L. Thymosin in the early diagnosis and treatment of high risk homosexuals and hemophiliacs with AIDS-like immune dysfunction. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1984;437:88–99. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1984.tb37125.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Sarin P. S., Sun D. K., Thornton A. H., Naylor P. H., Goldstein A. L. Neutralization of HTLV-III/LAV replication by antiserum to thymosin alpha 1. Science. 1986 May 30;232(4754):1135–1137. doi: 10.1126/science.3010464. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Savino W., Dardenne M., Marche C., Trophilme D., Dupuy J. M., Pekovic D., Lapointe N., Bach J. F. Thymic epithelium in AIDS. An immunohistologic study. Am J Pathol. 1986 Feb;122(2):302–307. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Stähli C., Takács B., Kocyba C. Monoclonal antibodies to thymosin alpha 1. Mol Immunol. 1983 Oct;20(10):1095–1097. doi: 10.1016/0161-5890(83)90118-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Wong-Staal F., Gallo R. C. Human T-lymphotropic retroviruses. Nature. 1985 Oct 3;317(6036):395–403. doi: 10.1038/317395a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Clinical and Experimental Immunology are provided here courtesy of British Society for Immunology

RESOURCES