Peptide
Thymosin Alpha-1
Also catalogued as Thymalfasin, Tα1, Thymosin α1.
- CAS number
- 62304-98-7
- Molecular formula
- C129H215N33O55
- Molecular weight
- 3108.28 g/mol
- PubChem CID
- —
Identity
- CAS number
- 62304-98-7
- Molecular formula
- C129H215N33O55
- Molecular weight
- 3108.28 g/mol
- Residues
- 28
- Sequence
- SDAAVDTSSEITTKDLKEKKEVVEEAEN
The N-terminal serine carries an acetyl group, which the one-letter string cannot show. Eleven of the twenty-eight residues are glutamate or aspartate, which is what makes the peptide strongly acidic and freely water-soluble.
What it is
Thymosin alpha-1 is a 28-residue acetylated peptide originally isolated from calf thymus, where it occurs as a fragment of the larger precursor protein prothymosin alpha. Its sequence is unusually rich in acidic residues, and the acetyl cap on the N-terminal serine is part of the defining structure rather than a synthetic modification.
The peptide was isolated and sequenced by Goldstein and colleagues in 1977 from thymosin fraction 5. Material supplied today is made by chemical synthesis rather than extracted from tissue, and carries the international nonproprietary name thymalfasin.
Regulatory status
Thymalfasin is an approved medicine in a number of countries outside the United States and Europe. Material supplied under this listing is a research peptide and is not an approved product.
Primary literature
Goldstein AL, Low TL, McAdoo M, et al. Thymosin alpha1: isolation and sequence analysis of an immunologically active thymic polypeptide. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 1977;74(2):725–729.
Citation titles are reproduced verbatim from the journal record. A citation documents the molecule's published identity and history; it is not a claim about the material sold here.