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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1984 May;81(9):2882–2885. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.9.2882

Thymosin increases production of T-cell growth factor by normal human peripheral blood lymphocytes.

M M Zatz, J Oliver, C Samuels, A B Skotnicki, M B Sztein, A L Goldstein
PMCID: PMC345176  PMID: 6609371

Abstract

The in vitro incubation of phytohemagglutinin-stimulated peripheral blood lymphocytes with thymosin results in a marked and reproducible increase in production of T-cell growth factor, which is dose dependent and most pronounced in the first 24 hr of culture. Incubation of lymphocytes with thymosin alone failed to induce any production of T-cell growth factor. The biological activity of thymosin fraction 5 cannot be attributed to the activity of thymosin alpha 1, one of the well-characterized peptide components of fraction 5. These data provide the basis for (i) a potential mechanism for the in vivo immunorestorative effects of thymosin in primary and secondary immunodeficiencies and (ii) identification of an additional, but as yet undefined, immunoregulatory component of thymosin fraction 5.

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Selected References

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

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