Thymulin 10 mg

Thymulin 10 mg research-grade lyophilized peptide powder in a glass vial. Thymulin, also known as Facteur Thymique Sérique (FTS), is a zinc-dependent nonapeptide thymic hormone produced by thymic epithelial cells and studied in models of immune modulation and T-cell differentiation.

Research Overview

Thymulin (FTS) is a zinc-dependent thymic nonapeptide hormone used in experimental systems to explore thymic function, immune modulation and T-cell maturation. In laboratory models it serves as a tool compound for studying how thymic peptides shape adaptive and innate immune responses.

Primary Research Areas

• Immune modulation & thymic function: models assessing how thymic peptides influence immune balance and responsiveness [1,6].
• T-cell differentiation & maturation: experimental systems focused on helper and cytotoxic T-cell development and thymic output [1].
• Anti-inflammatory & analgesic pathways: research into modulation of inflammatory mediators and nociceptive signaling [4,8].
• Neuroendocrine & neuroimmune signaling: studies of crosstalk between thymic peptides, endocrine axes and CNS-immune communication [3,6].
• Natural Killer (NK) cell activity: models tracking NK-cell function, cytotoxic responses and innate immune surveillance [7].
• Zinc decides whether it works: thymulin is only active while a zinc ion sits in the molecule. In volunteers made mildly zinc-deficient by diet, blood thymulin activity fell and was restored by zinc, given to the person or simply added to the sample. In zinc deficiency the limiting factor was the zinc, not the peptide [1,2].
• Low doses made pain worse: injected into a rat’s paw, as little as 0.5 ng made that paw more sensitive to pressure and to heat, and 5 ng raised interleukin-1β and nerve growth factor; high doses did the opposite, cutting endotoxin-driven pain. The small end of the range is the wrong end, in rodent paw models [3,4].
• Airway scarring in asthmatic mice: mice with long-running allergic asthma received a single dose of DNA nanoparticles carrying the gene for a thymulin analogue; lung inflammation, collagen in the airway wall and smooth-muscle thickening were all prevented, and lung mechanics improved. It was gene delivery of an analogue rather than injected thymulin, and only in mice [5].
• Fever and sickness in infected mice: mice given rising doses of bacterial endotoxin ran fevers, lost lymphocytes to cell death and had high inflammatory cytokines; thymulin brought the fever down, reduced that cell death, raised spleen cell numbers and partly restored serotonin and melatonin in blood and brain. The neurotransmitter changes were only a move back toward normal [6].

References

1. Prasad AS, Meftah S, Abdallah J, et al. Serum thymulin in human zinc deficiency. J Clin Invest. 1988;82(4):1202-10. PMID 3262625. doi:10.1172/JCI113717
2. Prasad AS, Fitzgerald JT, Hess JW, et al. Zinc deficiency in elderly patients. Nutrition. 1993;9(3):218-24. PMID 8353362.
3. Safieh-Garabedian B, Kanaan SA, Jalakhian RH, et al. Involvement of interleukin-1 beta, nerve growth factor, and prostaglandin-E2 in the hyperalgesia induced by intraplantar injections of low doses of thymulin. Brain Behav Immun. 1997;11(3):185-200. PMID 9417804. doi:10.1006/brbi.1997.0491
4. Safieh-Garabedian B, Jalakhian RH, Saadé NE, et al. Thymulin reduces hyperalgesia induced by peripheral endotoxin injection in rats and mice. Brain Res. 1996;717(1-2):179-83. PMID 8738269. doi:10.1016/0006-8993(95)01532-9
5. da Silva AL, Martini SV, Abreu SC, et al. DNA nanoparticle-mediated thymulin gene therapy prevents airway remodeling in experimental allergic asthma. J Control Release. 2014;180:125-33. PMID 24556417. doi:10.1016/j.jconrel.2014.02.010
6. Novoselova EG, Lunin SM, Glushkova OV, et al. Thymulin, free or bound to PBCA nanoparticles, protects mice against chronic septic inflammation. PLoS One. 2018;13(5):e0197601. PMID 29795607. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0197601
7. Dokhelar MC, Tursz T, Dardenne M, et al. Effect of a synthetic thymic factor (facteur thymique serique) on natural killer cell activity in humans. Int J Immunopharmacol. 1983;5(4):277-82. PMID 6195118. doi:10.1016/0192-0561(83)90029-2
8. Saadé NE, Atweh SF, Jabbur SJ, et al. A thymulin analogue peptide with powerful inhibitory effects on pain of neurogenic origin. Neuroscience. 2003;119(1):155-65. PMID 12763077. doi:10.1016/s0306-4522(03)00072-1