Immune and antimicrobial peptides
Thymic peptides and host-defence peptides.
Thymic peptides and host-defence peptides. Two origins, one category, and the difference between them is worth holding on to.
The thymic peptides derive from thymus-derived fractions and were characterised in an era when a biological fraction could be named before its active component was isolated. Several names in this group therefore denote a preparation rather than a defined molecule, and the entries say which is which where the register allows it.
The host-defence peptides are defined molecules of known sequence, studied for direct antimicrobial activity as well as for interaction with the immune system.
A practical note runs across both origins: where a name has been applied at different times to a fraction and to a synthetic peptide, published research on one does not transfer to the other. The entries keep those literatures apart rather than merging them.
Compounds listed below without a link do not yet have a published entry.
Compounds in this category
4 of 4 entries are published. Compounds without a published entry are listed without a link.
- Thymosin Alpha-1Thymosin alpha-1 is a 28-residue N-acetylated human peptide corresponding to the N-terminal part of prothymosin alpha. Under the International Nonproprietary Name thymalfasin it is an approved pharmaceutical product in a number of countries, though not in the United States, where it has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for any indication.
- ThymalinThymalin is a polypeptide complex isolated from thymus tissue and registered as an immunomodulatory preparation in the Russian Federation. It is not a defined molecule, has no sequence or molecular formula, and is not approved by the FDA for any indication.
- ThymulinThymulin is a nine-residue hormone produced by thymic epithelial cells, biologically active only when a zinc ion is bound to it. It was characterised in the 1970s and 1980s and tested in randomised trials in 1987; it is not approved by the FDA for any indication.
- LL-37LL-37 is the 37-residue C-terminal peptide released from hCAP18, the product of the single human cathelicidin gene, and the material supplied as a laboratory reagent is a synthetic copy of it. It has been studied in randomised clinical trials in chronic wounds under the name ropocamptide, and it is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for any indication.
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