Thymosin alpha-1 · research summary

Mechanism and clinical application of thymosin in the treatment of lung cancer.

Frontiers in immunology · 2023. Summary drawn from the study's full text. Each statement is followed by the exact sentence it comes from. This is a research summary, not medical advice.

Study type

Systematic review and analysis of clinical and basic research
“The clinical research on thymosin peptide drugs in lung cancer and the basic research on the mechanism of thymosin drugs in anti-lung cancer are both systematically summarized and analyzed in this paper, along with future research directions.”

Subjects

Patients with lung cancer (including NSCLC and LUAD) and animal models
“LC includes non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC), and NSCLC contains numerous pathological types such as lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) and lung adenocarcinoma, of which LUAD is the most prevalent pathological type of LC (6).”

Sample size

Varies across summarized studies, including a meta-analysis of 1925 patients and a real-world study of 5746 patients
“Another meta-analysis included 27 RCTs involving a total of 1925 patients with stage IIIa-IV NSCLC, of whom 976 received combination therapy with synthetic thymic peptides (sTPs) (including Tα1 and thymopentin) and chemotherapy and 949 received chemotherapy alone to evaluate the clinical effects of sTPs plus chemotherapy (64).”

Duration

Not specified for the review itself; individual studies range from short-term trials to long-term follow-ups (e.g., 5-year survival)
“The long-term survival effects of Tα1 as postoperative immunomodulatory therapy were examined in a large, real-world study involving 5746 patients with NSCLC who underwent surgery and achieved R0 resection (68).”

Reported findings

Thymosin drugs inhibit lung cancer growth, proliferation, invasion, and migration through mechanisms involving STAT3-MMP2 pathway inhibition and antioxidant activity.
“Bo et al. discovered that Tα1 inhibited the transcription of MMP2 by inhibiting phosphorylation of STAT3, resulting in a decrease in MMP2 protein expression and inhibiting the migration and invasion of NSCLC cells with programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) high-expressing, which suggests that Tα1 may inhibit the STAT3-MMP2 signaling pathway by stimulating PD-L1 (31).”
Combination of thymosin with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or targeted therapy improves clinical efficacy, survival rates, and immune function while reducing side effects.
“Numerous clinical studies have demonstrated that the use of Tα1 in combination with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT), targeted therapy, or as postoperative adjuvant therapy can significantly increase the clinical efficacy of LC patients, lower their risk of recurrence, and lengthen their time of survival.”
Thymosin exerts immunomodulatory effects by restoring NK cell activity and increasing CD8+ T cell levels.
“In animal models with LUAD, Tα1 monotherapy, and Tα1 in combination with gemcitabine have both been shown to increase CD8+T cell levels (37).”

Source: PubMed 37701432 · DOI 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1237978 · all study summaries

Study type

Systematic review and analysis of clinical and basic research

“The clinical research on thymosin peptide drugs in lung cancer and the basic research on the mechanism of thymosin drugs in anti-lung cancer are both systematically summarized and analyzed in this paper, along with future research directions.”

Subjects

Patients with lung cancer (including NSCLC and LUAD) and animal models

“LC includes non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC), and NSCLC contains numerous pathological types such as lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) and lung adenocarcinoma, of which LUAD is the most prevalent pathological type of LC (6).”

Sample size

Varies across summarized studies, including a meta-analysis of 1925 patients and a real-world study of 5746 patients

“Another meta-analysis included 27 RCTs involving a total of 1925 patients with stage IIIa-IV NSCLC, of whom 976 received combination therapy with synthetic thymic peptides (sTPs) (including Tα1 and thymopentin) and chemotherapy and 949 received chemotherapy alone to evaluate the clinical effects of sTPs plus chemotherapy (64).”

Duration

Not specified for the review itself; individual studies range from short-term trials to long-term follow-ups (e.g., 5-year survival)

“The long-term survival effects of Tα1 as postoperative immunomodulatory therapy were examined in a large, real-world study involving 5746 patients with NSCLC who underwent surgery and achieved R0 resection (68).”

Reported findings

Thymosin drugs inhibit lung cancer growth, proliferation, invasion, and migration through mechanisms involving STAT3-MMP2 pathway inhibition and antioxidant activity.

“Bo et al. discovered that Tα1 inhibited the transcription of MMP2 by inhibiting phosphorylation of STAT3, resulting in a decrease in MMP2 protein expression and inhibiting the migration and invasion of NSCLC cells with programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) high-expressing, which suggests that Tα1 may inhibit the STAT3-MMP2 signaling pathway by stimulating PD-L1 (31).”

Combination of thymosin with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or targeted therapy improves clinical efficacy, survival rates, and immune function while reducing side effects.

“Numerous clinical studies have demonstrated that the use of Tα1 in combination with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT), targeted therapy, or as postoperative adjuvant therapy can significantly increase the clinical efficacy of LC patients, lower their risk of recurrence, and lengthen their time of survival.”

Thymosin exerts immunomodulatory effects by restoring NK cell activity and increasing CD8+ T cell levels.

“In animal models with LUAD, Tα1 monotherapy, and Tα1 in combination with gemcitabine have both been shown to increase CD8+T cell levels (37).”