ISSN:
1365-3083
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
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.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3083.1985.tb01424.x
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