Elevated plasma thymosin-alpha1 levels in lung cancer patients.
OBJECTIVE
Prothymosin-alpha, the precursor of thymosin-alpha1, may play a role in cell proliferation, and the plasma level of thymosin-alpha1 may reflect the degree of proliferation of the tumor cells.


METHODS
Recently, a new sandwich immunoradiometric assay for thymosin-alpha1 was developed using monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies. In this investigation, we used this assay to measure plasma and tissue level of thymosin-alpha1 in 131 lung cancer patients.


RESULTS
We found that the mean plasma thymosin-alpha1 levels in lung cancer patients were higher than in normal individuals (P < 0.001). However, half of the patients showed normal levels. Thymosin-alpha1 levels correlated neither with the stage nor pathological subtype of the lung cancer, and did not decrease significantly in the 4 weeks after the resection of the tumor. Thymosin-alpha1 levels of lung cancer patients with another cancer were higher than those without evidence of other cancers (P = 0.03). Survival of patients with normal levels of plasma thymosin-alpha1 was significantly better than that with higher levels (P = 0.04).


CONCLUSIONS
The plasma level of thymosin-alpha1 may be used as a marker for the prognosis of lung cancer patients. Further investigations are warranted to determine its role in the lung cancer.
Sasaki
H
H
Department of Surgery II, Nagoya City University Medical School, Japan.
Fujii
Y
Y
Masaoka
A
A
Yamakawa
Y
Y
Fukai
I
I
Kiriyama
M
M
Saito
Y
Y
Matsui
H
H
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood; D018287:Carcinoma, Large Cell / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D002455:Cell Division; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015592:Immunoradiometric Assay; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D000077596:Thymalfasin; D013947:Thymosin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D013947:Thymosin; D000077596:Thymalfasin