TA10 - Thymosin Alpha-1 - 10 MG - Research Use Only

Product definition

What is Thymosin Alpha 1?

Thymosin Alpha 1 is a 28-amino-acid thymic peptide approved in 35+ countries as Zadaxin for hepatitis B/C — the most clinically validated immunomodulatory peptide via TLR2/TLR9 activation and Th1 immune enhancement.

Thymosin Alpha 1 (thymalfasin) is a naturally occurring thymic peptide — an N-terminal acetylated 28-amino-acid sequence originally isolated from thymosin fraction 5, a thymic extract prepared by Allan Goldstein's group at The George Washington University in the 1970s. The synthetic version became Zadaxin (SciClone Pharmaceuticals), approved in China, South Korea, Italy, and 30+ other countries for chronic hepatitis B and C treatment. The mechanistic pathway studied in the published literature involves: (1) direct TLR2 and TLR9 agonism on dendritic cells and natural killer cells — activating the innate immune response; (2) enhancement of MHC class I and II antigen presentation, improving CD8+ and CD4+ T-cell recognition of infected or transformed cells; (3) Th1 cytokine profile enhancement (IFN-γ, IL-2, TNF-α) at the expense of Th2 dominance, relevant in chronic infection contexts where Th2 bias impairs viral clearance; (4) NK cell cytotoxicity enhancement. This profile has driven investigation across infectious disease, cancer immunotherapy, and sepsis biology.

Research context

What does the preclinical literature say about Thymosin Alpha 1?

Thymosin Alpha 1 was isolated from thymic extracts by Allan Goldstein's group in the 1970s as part of the effort to characterize thymic hormones responsible for T-cell maturation. The subsequent development of the synthetic peptide and its clinical evaluation for chronic viral hepatitis — conditions where impaired T-cell responses allow viral persistence — was a direct translation of the mechanistic hypothesis. The hepatitis B approval data documents improved viral clearance rates, HBsAg loss, and HBeAg seroconversion in treated patients versus control, particularly when combined with interferon-α. This clinical pharmacodynamic dataset provides the human mechanistic anchoring that most research immunopeptides lack. In oncology research, the interest in Tα1 has grown with the checkpoint inhibitor era: the hypothesis that Tα1 can prime innate and adaptive immunity to enhance the anti-tumor T-cell response to checkpoint blockade is under preclinical and early clinical investigation. In sepsis, Tα1's documented effects on macrophage polarization and inflammatory cytokine modulation have positioned it as a candidate for studying immune restoration in immunoparalysis contexts. Uniquely for a research peptide, Tα1 has a published safety record from 35+ country regulatory review processes — a pharmacovigilance dataset that supports its use as a research reference compound.