Thymosin Alpha1-Fc Modulates the Immune System and Down-regulates the Progression of Melanoma and Breast Cancer with a Prolonged Half-life
Wang F, Yu T, Zheng H, Lao X. Sci Rep. 2018; 8(1):12351.
PubMed 30120362 · PMC6097990 · doi:10.1038/s41598-018-30956-y
Done in animals. Results often do not carry over to people.
Where this design sits
- Cells in a dish
- Animals (this study)
- Small human report
- Controlled human trial
- Pooled analysis
- Who or what was studied
- Mice, including mouse breast cancer (4T1) and melanoma (B16F10) tumour models; numbers not given in the abstract
- Design
- Laboratory engineering of a thymosin alpha-1 fusion protein (joined to the Fc part of human IgG4), then mouse experiments
What it found
The authors made a longer-lasting form of thymosin alpha-1 by attaching an antibody fragment. In mice its serum half-life was 25 hours, about 13 times that of thymosin alpha-1. They report it restored lymphocyte counts after immune injury and slowed tumour growth in the two mouse models, with more CD86, interferon-gamma and interleukin-2 and more tumour-infiltrating CD4+ and CD8+ T cells.
What it doesn’t show
A mouse study of a new engineered molecule, not of thymosin alpha-1 itself, so it is not evidence about the peptide that people are given. The abstract gives no animal numbers, and the authors present it as information for developing new cancer immunotherapy, not as a clinical result.
Funding and conflicts of interest
The record lists non-U.S. government research support. The authors declare no competing interests.
Summary written from the study's abstract and checked against PubMed on November 9, 2026. How we check studies. Educational information, not medical advice.
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