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Modulation of NK activity by thymic hormones:in vitro effects of thymostimulin

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Abstract

Plastic-adherent depleted or not depleted peripheral mononuclear blood cells (PMBC) from healthy donors showed enhanced lytic activity against51Cr-labelled K562 target cells when exposed to thymostimulin (TS), 1 μg ml-1, for 3 h, washed and incubated in TS-free medium before testing for natural killer (NK) cytotoxicity. No modification of NK cell activity was seen when effector cells were treated with placebo (splenic extract). The NK boosting activity of TS was lost when effector cells were treated for 3 h immediately before the performance of the cytotoxic test or when this thymic extract was added directly to the mixture of effector and target cells during the lytic phase of51Cr release assay.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinica Medica I, University of Perugia, Italy

    Anna Marina Liberati, Saverio Cinieri, Marco Fizzotti, Monica Schippa, Stefano Ascani, Verena De Angelis & Maria Senatore

  2. Istituto Farmacologico “C. Serono”, Rome, Italy

    Lucia Palmisano

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  1. Anna Marina Liberati
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  2. Saverio Cinieri
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  3. Marco Fizzotti
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  4. Monica Schippa
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  5. Stefano Ascani
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  6. Verena De Angelis
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  7. Maria Senatore
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  8. Lucia Palmisano
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Liberati, A.M., Cinieri, S., Fizzotti, M. et al. Modulation of NK activity by thymic hormones:in vitro effects of thymostimulin. Med. Oncol. & Tumor Pharmacother. 6, 45–52 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02985222

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