The efficacy of thymosin alpha 1 for severe sepsis (ETASS): a multicenter, single-blind, randomized and controlled trial
Wu J, Zhou L, Liu J, Ma G, Kou Q, He Z, et al.. Crit Care. 2013; 17(1):R8.
PubMed 23327199 · PMC4056079 · doi:10.1186/cc11932
Compares people who got the treatment with people who did not.
Where this design sits
- Cells in a dish
- Animals
- Small human report
- Controlled human trial (this study)
- Pooled analysis
- Who or what was studied
- 361 ICU patients with severe sepsis at six teaching hospitals in China
- Design
- Randomised, single-blind, controlled multicentre trial (thymosin alpha-1 plus usual care versus usual care)
- Duration
- Deaths counted at 28 days
What it found
Fewer patients died within 28 days on thymosin alpha-1 (26.0%) than in the control group (35.0%), but the result was borderline: the relative risk was 0.74 (95% CI 0.54 to 1.02), and the two statistical tests gave P = 0.062 and 0.049. A blood marker of immune function (monocyte HLA-DR) improved more on days 3 and 7 in the treated group. No serious drug-related adverse events were recorded.
What it doesn’t show
The confidence interval includes no effect, so this trial alone does not show a survival benefit. Single-blind, and the abstract does not say whether controls received a placebo, so knowledge of the treatment could have shaped care. The later and much larger placebo-controlled TESTS trial (Wu 2025) found no mortality difference. The authors' conclusion is hedged to a 'targeted population' of severe sepsis.
Funding and conflicts of interest
The record lists non-U.S. government research support; no competing interests are in the record.
Summary written from the study's abstract and checked against PubMed on November 10, 2026. How we check studies. Educational information, not medical advice.
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