Thymic Peptides and Preparations: an Update
¡ Archivum Immunologiae et Therapiae Experimentalis, 1999, 47¢ , 77–82 £ PL ISSN 0004-069X Review Thymic Peptides and Preparations: an Update ¤ O. J. Cordero et al.: Thymic Peptides ¦ ¨ § OSCAR J. CORDERO, A¥ LICIA PIÑEIRO and MONTSERRAT NOGUEIRA Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain Abstract. The possibilities of thymic peptides in human therapy are still being described. Here, we focus on their © general characteristics and on recent advances in this area. Key words: thymus; thymic peptides; preclinical investigation; therapeutic use; clinical trials. Thymic peptides, as well as a variety of other purified from porcine and human serum and from calf modulators (IL-1, IL-3, IL-6, GM-CSF) and cell-cell thymus, and named “facteur thymique serique”11. interactions, regulate the process known as thymic se- According to the classical criteria, TH is the unique lection by which pro-thymocytes become mature and peptide that can be recognized as a hormone. Its secre- functional T cells. tion by a subpopulation of thymic epithelial cells (TEC) Several polypeptides have been extracted, mainly is controlled by a pleiotropic mechanism involving its from young calves, and some of them have been suc- own levels and those of prolactine (PRL), growth hor- cessfully isolated and prepared synthetically (Fig. 1). mone (GH) through insulin growth factor 1 (IGF-1) se- The precise role of much of these factors purported to cretion, adrenocorticotropin (ACTH), thyroxin (T4), β- have intrathymic effects is still unknown, although endorphin and β-leukencephalin and IL-1α and β8. many of these compounds exhibit immunobiological Furthermore, reciprocal regulatory actions on the activity.
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