title: Elevated plasma thymosin-alpha1 levels in lung cancer patients.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery II, Nagoya City University Medical School, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Masaoka
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamakawa
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fukai
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kiriyama
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsui
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D013947:Thymosin; D000077596:Thymalfasin