title: Thymopentin and splenopentin as immunomodulators. Current status.
abstract: Splenopentin (SP-5, Arg-Lys-Glu-Val-Tyr) and thymopentin (TP-5, Arg-Lys-Asp-Val-Tyr) are synthetic immunomodulating peptides corresponding to the region 32-34 of a splenic product called splenin (SP) and the thymic hormone thymopoietin (TP), respectively. TP was originally isolated as a 5-kDa (49-amino acids) protein from bovine thymus while studying effects of the thymic extracts on neuromuscular transmission and was subsequently observed to affect T cell differentiation and function. TP I and II are two closely related polypeptides isolated from bovine thymus. A radioimmunoassay for TP revealed a crossreaction with a product found in spleen and lymph node. This product, named splenin, differs from TP only in position 34, aspartic acid for bovine TP and glutamic acid for bovine splenin and it was called TP III as well. Synthetic pentapeptides (TP-5) and (SP-5), reproduce the biological activities of TP and SP, respectively. It is now evident that various forms of TPs were created by proteolytic cleavage of larger proteins during isolation. cDNA clones have been isolated for three alternatively spliced mRNAs that encodes three distinct human T cell TPs. The immunomodulatory properties of TP, SP, TP-5, SP-5 and some of their synthetic analogs reported in the literature have been briefly reviewed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Sanjay Gandhi Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, India. vksingh@sgpgi.ren.nic.in
authors.forename: V K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Biswas
authors.forename: K B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Mathur
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Haq
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Garg
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Agarwal
mesh_terms: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy; D002648:Child; D003872:Dermatitis / Q000188:drug therapy; D006801:Humans; D007153:Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes / Q000188:drug therapy; D007239:Infections / Q000188:drug therapy; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000276:immunology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D009465:Neuromuscular Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000276:immunology / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016305:Thymopentin / Q000276:immunology / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013946:Thymopoietins / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D009465:Neuromuscular Agents; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D013946:Thymopoietins; C041898:splenopentin; C032841:thymopoietin III; D016305:Thymopentin