Effects of synthetic thymosin beta 9 fragments on low E-rosette-forming cells of lupus nephritis patients.

Abstract

Five fragments from hexapeptide to decapeptide, corresponding to positions 16-25 of thymosin beta 9, were synthesized and their effects on low E-rosette-forming capacity with sheep erythrocytes of cells from lupus nephritis patients were compared with that of the undecapeptide (positions 16-26) of thymosin beta 9 by taking synthetic thymosin beta 9 as a standard. Two of the fragments (16-25 and 18-25) exhibited higher activity than that of the parent peptide (16-26). The other three sequences (17-25, 19-25, and 20-25) had no effect at concentrations as high as 10(-4) M.