If you have been reading about thymus extract and want a single page that covers the useful parts, this is it: definitions, context, how it is studied, and the questions that come up repeatedly.
Last reviewed on 2026-05-23. Where a claim depends on a specific study, the study is described rather than over-claimed.
The peptide was described in the 1970s as a component of thymic extracts, and early research focused on restoring immune function in immunodeficiency states. A synthetic version entered clinical development in the 1980s and is approved as a drug in several countries for conditions such as chronic hepatitis B and certain immunodeficiencies. Approval status varies widely by jurisdiction, and in the United States it is not an approved therapeutic. Regulatory and clinical positions differ, so statements about efficacy should be tied to specific indications and studies.
Thymosin alpha-1 is a synthetic peptide of 28 amino acids, corresponding to the N-terminal fragment of prothymosin alpha. Its sequence begins with acetylation at the N-terminus, a modification that affects stability and receptor interaction. The peptide is acidic, with a calculated isoelectric point near 4.2, and carries no disulfide bonds, so its secondary structure is largely flexible in solution. Molecular mass is approximately 3108 daltons. The native form was first isolated from bovine thymus tissue, while pharmaceutical material is produced by solid-phase peptide synthesis.
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。
胸腺素α1（thymosin alpha 1，Tα1）是一种由28个氨基酸组成的酸性肽，N端被乙酰化，分子量约为3108道尔顿。该肽最早从牛胸腺组织提取物中分离，属于胸腺素组分5的一个成分。其序列在不同哺乳动物中高度保守，提示其具有基本的生物学功能。名称中的“α1”指其在电泳中的迁移位置，并非表示亚型编号。它既存在于胸腺，也存在于脾脏和淋巴结等免疫组织。
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chemical class | Synthetic peptide, 28 residues | N-terminal fragment of prothymosin alpha |
| Molecular mass | About 3108 Da | Acetylated form |
| Isoelectric point | Near 4.2 | Acidic peptide |
| Appearance | White to off-white lyophilized powder | Common supplied form |
| Typical storage | -20 °C or below, dry | Solution stability is lower |
The peptide is generated in cells by cleavage of prothymosin alpha, a larger acidic protein encoded by the PTMA gene. Prothymosin alpha is expressed in many tissues, not only in the thymus, and its functions include nuclear roles in chromatin-related processes. The 28-residue fragment corresponds to the N-terminal portion of that precursor. How the cleavage occurs and how the fragment's concentration is regulated remain open questions; circulating amounts are small and difficult to measure reliably with routine assays.
Thymosin alpha 1 is a short peptide first isolated from bovine thymus tissue in the early 1970s during fractionation work aimed at identifying factors that influence T cell development. It belongs to a family of acidic thymic peptides, and the original preparations contained several components that were later separated by chromatography. The compound is now produced synthetically rather than extracted from tissue, which removes batch variability tied to animal sourcing. Researchers describe it as an immunomodulatory peptide because laboratory studies show effects on several cell types of the innate and adaptive immune systems.
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.
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 28-residue peptide first isolated from thymus tissue in the 1970s. It corresponds to the N-terminal portion of thymosin beta-4, from which it is cleaved in vivo. The peptide carries an acetyl group at its N-terminus, a modification that affects its charge and stability. Synthetic material produced by solid-phase peptide synthesis is chemically identical to the natural fragment and is the form used in research and clinical studies.
Laboratory work indicates that the peptide acts on cells of both the innate and adaptive immune systems. Reported effects include signalling through Toll-like receptors on dendritic cells, enhanced T-cell maturation, and increased natural killer cell activity. These actions are described largely from cell-culture and animal experiments, and the precise receptor-level events remain incompletely defined. Studies in humans have generally measured immune markers rather than a single defined molecular target. The resulting picture remains partly descriptive.
== Prevention == Screening individuals for certain predisposing gene variants before initiating treatment with particular SJS-, TEN/SJS-, or TEN-inducing drugs is recommended or under study. These recommendations are typically limited to specific populations that show a significant chance of having the indicated gene variant since screening of populations with extremely low incidences of expressing the variant is considered cost-ineffective. Individuals expressing the HLA allele associated with sensitivity to an indicated drug should not be treated with the drug. These recommendations include the following. Before treatment with carbamazepine, the Taiwan and USA Food and Drug Administrations recommend screening for HLA-B*15:02 in certain Asian groups. This has been implemented in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and many medical centers in Thailand and mainland China. Before treatment with allopurinol, the American College of Rheumatology guidelines for managing gout recommend HLA-B*58:01 screening. This is provided in many medical centers in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, and mainland China. Before treatment with abacavir, the USA Food and Drug Administration recommends screening for HLA-B*57:01 in Caucasian populations. This screening is widely implemented. It has also been suggested that all individuals found to express this HLA serotype avoid treatment with abacovir. Current trials are underway in Taiwan to define the cost-effectiveness of avoiding phenytoin in SJS, SJS/TEN, and TEN for individuals expressing the CYP2C9*3 allele of CYP2C9.
An inhibitor cystine knot (also known as ICK or Knottin) is a protein structural motif containing three disulfide bridges. Knottins are one of three folds in the cystine knot motif; the other closely related knots are the growth factor cystine knot (GFCK) and the cyclic cystine knot (CCK; cyclotide). Types include a) cyclic mobius, b) cyclic bracelet and c) acyclic inhibitor knottins. Cystine knot motifs are found frequently in nature in a plethora of plants, animals, and fungi and serve diverse functions from appetite suppression to anti-fungal activity. Along with the sections of polypeptide between them, two disulfides form a loop through which the third disulfide bond (linking the third and sixth cysteines in the sequence) passes, forming a knot. The motif is common in invertebrate toxins such as those from arachnids and molluscs. The motif is also found in some inhibitor proteins found in plants, but the plant and animal motifs are thought to be a product of convergent evolution. The ICK motif is a very stable protein structure which is resistant to heat denaturation and proteolysis. CK peptide components of venoms target voltage-gated ion channels but members of the family also act as antibacterial and haemolytic agents. Plant ICK proteins are often protease inhibitors. Knottins have high stability to pH, heat, and enzymes. Because of their stability and their favorable pharmacodynamic properties, knottins are becoming increasingly popular as protein engineering scaffolds.
== Reception == Anathem received several positive reviews. Paul Boutin wrote in The Wall Street Journal that "the lasting satisfaction of Anathem derives … from Mr. Stephenson's wry contempt for today's just-Google-it mindset. His prose is dense, but his worldview contagious." On Salon.com, Andrew Leonard described the book as "a page turner and a philosophical argument, an adventure novel and an extended existential meditation, a physics lesson, sermon and ripping good yarn." Michael Dirda of The Washington Post disagreed, remarking that "Anathem will certainly be admired for its intelligence, ambition, control and ingenuity", but describing it as "fundamentally unoriginal", "grandiose, overwrought and pretty damn dull." David Itzkoff of The New York Times concluded that "Anathem spends so much time engaged in copying, in conjuring up alternative formulations of our real-world science and religion, that it forgets to come up with much that is new or true." The novel entered The New York Times Best Seller list for Hardcover Fiction at number one and achieved the rare distinction for a novel of being reviewed in the scientific journal Nature. Anathem won the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 2009 and collected nominations for the Hugo, Arthur C. Clarke, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards the same year. In 2008, the novel received a nomination for the British Science Fiction Award.
The town of Billericay was established in the 13th century in the Manor and Parish of Great Burstead. The Manor of Burgestede is first recorded in an Anglo-Saxon will of 975 AD. In the Domesday Book of 1086, two separate manors are recorded as Burghestada. The name Great Burstead is first recorded in the early 13th century, but the division into Great and Little Burstead Manors had happened by the time of the Norman Conquest. The town of Billericay, first recorded as Byllyrica in 1291, is understood to have been founded in the 13th century by the Abbot of West Ham, head of the Cistercian community of Stratford Langthorne Abbey, 20 miles (32.2 km) away on the Lower Lea, in what is now inner London. The Abbey held the Manor of Great Burstead at the time. The town was established at the High Street. Like the abandoned Roman settlement just to the south, it benefitted from a prominent position on the high ground forming the watershed on the catchment areas of the rivers Crouch and Wid. It was also on the crossroads (at Sun Corner) of the road from the Thames to Chelmsford (the modern B1007) and the A129 road linking Hutton to Wickford; it is believed that the Crouch may have been navigable as far as Wickford at that time. At this time, the parish church for Billericay was at St Mary Magdalene, Great Burstead. By the 14th century, a chantry chapel had been built on the High Street, which became a chapel of ease to Great Burstead following the Reformation; it eventually became a parish church in 1844, also dedicated to St Mary Magdalen.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
=== Religious use === Mescaline-containing cacti are used as entheogens for religious purposes by certain Latin American and Native American and groups. The Huichol (Wixárika) people of Mexico and the Native American Church use peyote, while the native people of Peru use the San Pedro cactus (huachuma). The use of mescaline-containing cacti for such purposes by Mexican and South American people dates back thousands of years. The use of peyote spread from the Huichol people into Native American tribes such as the Kiowa and Comanche in the late 1800s.
The ability of interferon to induce protein production from interferon stimulated genes (ISGs) can also be affected. Production of protein kinase R, for example, can be disrupted in cells infected with JEV. Some viruses escape the anti-viral activities of interferons by gene (and thus protein) mutation. The H5N1 influenza virus, also known as bird flu, has resistance to interferon and other anti-viral cytokines that is attributed to a single amino acid change in its Non-Structural Protein 1 (NS1), although the precise mechanism of how this confers immunity is unclear. The relative resistance of hepatitis C virus genotype I to interferon-based therapy has been attributed in part to homology between viral envelope protein E2 and host protein kinase R, a mediator of interferon-induced suppression of viral protein translation, although mechanisms of acquired and intrinsic resistance to interferon therapy in HCV are polyfactorial.
=== Physiological === Caffeine in coffee and other caffeinated drinks can affect gastrointestinal motility and gastric acid secretion. In postmenopausal women, high caffeine consumption can accelerate bone loss. Caffeine, alongside other factors such as stress and fatigue, can also increase the pressure in various muscles, including the eyelids. Acute ingestion of caffeine in large doses (at least 250–300 mg, equivalent to the amount found in 2–3 cups of coffee or 5–8 cups of tea) results in a short-term stimulation of urine output in individuals who have been deprived of caffeine for a period of days or weeks. This increase is due to both a diuresis (increase in water excretion) and a natriuresis (increase in saline excretion); it is mediated via proximal tubular adenosine receptor blockade. The acute increase in urinary output may increase the risk of dehydration. However, chronic users of caffeine develop a tolerance to this effect and experience no increase in urinary output.
An analysis of clinical trials by the FDA statisticians showed the incidence of suicidal behaviour among the adults on venlafaxine to be not significantly different from fluoxetine or placebo. Venlafaxine is contraindicated in children, adolescents, and young adults. In children and adolescents with depression, venlafaxine increases the risk of suicidal thoughts or attempts.
== History == Isavuconazole and isavuconazonium were discovered in Japan by researchers at Roche's research center in Kamakura. Basilea Pharmaceutica, which had been spun out of Roche to develop antimicrobial assets, developed isavuconazonium through Phase II clinical trials. In February 2010, Basilea partnered with Astellas Pharma to complete Phase III trials, obtain regulatory approvals, and market the drug. In 2013 and 2014, the partners won orphan drug designation in the US for isavuconazonium for treating invasive aspergillosis, mucormycosis, and invasive candidiasis. In 2014, Basilea and Astellas amended the agreement to give Astellas sole marketing authority in North America, and Basilea the rights to market in the rest of the world. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval in March 2015, and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved it in October 2015. In 2017, Basilea licensed rights to Pfizer to market isavuconazole in Europe and other regions.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Lys arylation Similar to cysteine, lysine N-arylation could be achieved through Pd OACs with different dialkylbiaryl phosphine ligands. Due to weaker nucleophilicity and slower reductive elimination rate compared to cysteine, the selection of supporting ligands is shown to be critical. The bulky BrettPhos and t-BuBrettPhos ligands in conjunction with mildly basic sodium phenoxide have been used as the strategy to functionalize lysines on peptide substrates. The reaction happens in mild conditions and is selective over most other nucleophilic amino acid residues.
The above equations suggest there is a flow speed at which pressure is zero, and at even higher speeds the pressure is negative. Most often, gases and liquids are not capable of negative absolute pressure, or even zero pressure, so clearly Bernoulli's equation ceases to be valid before zero pressure is reached. In liquids—when the pressure becomes too low—cavitation occurs. The above equations use a linear relationship between flow speed squared and pressure. At higher flow speeds in gases, or for sound waves in liquid, the changes in mass density become significant so that the assumption of constant density is invalid.
Amyr Klink (born 25 September 1955) is a Brazilian explorer, sailor and writer. One of his projects, "Antarctica 360", was circumnavigating the Antarctic continent on his own, in 88 days between 1998 and 1999.
International Chemical Safety Card 0275 (gas) International Chemical Safety Card 0695 (solution) NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards. "#0293". National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Entry for "Formaldehyde" on the Australian National Pollutant Inventory Formaldehyde from ChemSub Online Prevention guide—Formaldehyde in the Workplace (PDF) from the IRSST Formaldehyde from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health IPCS Health and Safety Guide 57: Formaldehyde IPCS Environmental Health Criteria 89: Formaldehyde SIDS Initial Assessment Report for Formaldehyde from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Formaldehyde in the Pesticide Properties DataBase (PPDB)
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
It corresponds to a fragment of the larger protein prothymosin alpha, which is present in many tissues. The isolated 28-amino-acid peptide was originally obtained from thymus preparations, and the pharmaceutical product is synthesized rather than extracted. The term therefore describes both a natural fragment and a manufactured drug substance.
Thymosin alpha-1 is a single defined 28-residue peptide, while the broader family includes unrelated peptides such as thymosin beta-4. The shared name reflects historical isolation from thymus tissue rather than a common structure. Confusion between the two is common in older literature.
No single pathway fully accounts for its reported effects. Several studies describe interaction with innate immune receptors and downstream cytokine changes, but the complete picture is not settled. Open questions remain about which effects occur at physiological concentrations.
它不是经典的内分泌激素，而是一种免疫调节肽。其作用主要通过局部免疫细胞间的信号传递实现，而非经血液循环作用于远隔器官。