Thymosin Alpha-1

What the research on Thymosin Alpha-1 has looked at

• What it does to immune cells: in the laboratory it pushed dendritic cells to mature and release a signaling molecule called interleukin-12. Dendritic cells are the ones that show threats to the rest of the immune system
• How it reaches them: that effect ran through toll-like receptors, which are the sensors immune cells use to spot infection. It does not appear to have a receptor of its own
• What changes in people: in a sepsis trial, a marker of how ready immune cells were to respond was higher on the compound at day 3 and again at day 7
• What the trials found: the results conflict. The largest and most rigorous, in over a thousand patients, found no difference against a dummy injection. Smaller and less strictly blinded trials have reported a benefit