Thymosin beta4 activates integrin-linked kinase and promotes cardiac cell migration, survival and cardiac repair
Bock-Marquette I, Saxena A, White MD, et al. (2004). Nature.
Summary
The paper that made thymosin beta-4 a subject of regenerative-medicine research. It reported that the peptide promotes migration of heart muscle and blood vessel cells in the embryonic heart and keeps that property in cells from newborn animals, and that it improved survival of heart muscle cells in culture. The authors identified a complex with PINCH and integrin-linked kinase that activates the survival kinase Akt. In mice whose coronary artery had been tied off, treatment raised that kinase activity in the heart, improved early muscle cell survival and improved cardiac function. Note that this concerns the full 43-amino-acid protein, not the shorter TB-500 fragment sold by suppliers.