Abstract
Publisher Summary This chapter provides an overview of thymic hormones. The thymus gland is a bilobed lymphoid organ located in the chest immediately beneath the breastbone. The involution of the thymus is among the first noticed indications of aging. A vital part of the process by which the thymus works occurs via a hormonal mechanism. A partially purified thymic extract termed thymosin fraction is been demonstrated to be effective in reconstituting immune functions in thymic-deprived or immuno deprived animals as well as in humans with primary immunodeficiency diseases and in immunosuppressed cancer patients. In addition to thymosin fraction 5, a number of preparations with thymic hormone-like activity are isolated from thymus tissue, blood and thymic epithelial supernatants. Several of the newly described thymosin peptides have been found to bear high degree of homology with either thymosin a α 1 and β 4 . The most important contribution of thymic hormone research resides in its application to the clinical management of thymus-dependent diseases.
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