Terminal Differentiation of Cord Blood Lymphocytes Induced by Thymosin Fraction 5 and Thymosin Alpha1

Cord blood lymphocytes (CBL) have been shown to be functionally immature compared with normal circulating adult lymphocytes (NAL). Differentiation of T cells is associated with changes in surface antigenic markers and in the pattern of purine degradative enzymes. Previous studies have demonstrated that thymosin fraction 5 (TMS‐F5) and thymosin alphal (TMS‐α1 can induce in vitro differentiation of murine T‐cell precursors and human thymocytes. We have investigated the effects of TMS‐F5 and TMS‐a, on the pattern of the purine degradative enzymes adenosine deaminase, purine nucleoside phosphorylase, and ecto‐5′‐nucleotidase (5′NT) of CBL and on the phenotypic markers from the OKT series 3,4,8 and 11. Other than a significantly reduced level of 5′NT activity (P<0.001) and an elevated percentage of OKT4+cells (P<0.01), CBL demonstrated the same immunological and biochemical patterns as NAL. Incubation of CBL with TMS‐F5 (150 jug/ml) and TMS‐α1 (1 μ/ml) for 40 h caused a significant rise in 5′NT level and decrease of cells positive for OKT4, resulting in a pattern characteristic of NAL. Thus TMS‐F5 might induce the terminal differentiation of CBL, and TMS‐α1 seemed to be the active component.

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