Distribution and biological activity ofβ-thymosins

Abstract

β-Thymosins, a group of highly homologous peptides consisting of about 40 amino acid residues, were found to be distributed from mammals up to echinoderms. Althogh they have first been isolated from mammalian thymus tissue preparations, their occurrance is not organ-specific and they are present even in different types of cells. For thymosinβ 4 several biological activities have been reported, stating that this peptide acts as a thymus peptide hormone and is also involved in the neuroendocrine and immune system. However, it was recently demonstrated that thymosinβ 4 has actin-sequestering properties and therefore might play an important role in the regulation of the microfilament system. This fact gives a new outlook on the real biological function ofβ-thymosins.

Characterization of two thymosins as immune-related genes in common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.)

“…It seems to be controversial with previous study in which high expression of thymosins were found in mammalian thymus (Haritos et al, 1984). Although thymosins were firstly isolated from mammalian thymus tissue preparations, their occurrences were not tissue-specific and they were even present in different types of cells (Mihelic and Voelter, 1994). These studies suggested that multiple roles of thymosins may exist in teleosts and mammals, which needs further investigation.…”

C‐terminal truncation of thymosin β10 by an intracellular protease and its influence on the interaction with G‐actin studied by ultrafiltration

“…Later on Safer et al [9] isolated a G‐actin sequestering factor, Fx, and showed that this factor is identical to thymosin β 4 [10]. The query that nearly all mammalian tissues investigated up to now express two members of this family has not been clarified [11, 12]. Most recently a third β‐thymosin (β 15 ) has been detected in Dunning rat prostate carcinoma additionally to thymosin β 4 and β 10 [13].…”

Thymosin β4 Accelerates Wound Healing

“…Tβ4 is a 43 amino acid, 4.9 kDa ubiquitous polypeptide found at concentrations of 1 ϫ 10 -5 to 5.6 ϫ 10 -1 M in a variety of tissues and cell types and was originally isolated from bovine thymus (Weber et al, 1992;Pantaloni and Carlier, 1993;Mihelic and Voelter, 1994;Oates and Goldstein, 1995). Tβ4 can interact with G-actin and is a major actin sequestering protein in cells (Cassimeris et al, 1992;Sanders et al, 1992;Yu et al, 1993Yu et al, , 1994Safer and Nachmias, 1994;Sanger et al, 1995).…”