Abstract
We have replaced the Ac-Ser residue of bovine thymosin α1 (position 1) with Ser in order to examine the resulting change in immunological effect on the low resette-forming capacity with sheep erythrocytes of cells from a lipoid nephrosis patient. The deacetyl-thymosin α1 was synthesized by the solution method. For the synthesis of the protected octaeicosapeptide, five peptide fragments were prepared by the stepwise elongation method with N-ethoxycarbonyl-2-ethoxy-1, 2-dihydroquinoline as a coupling reagent. The condensations of the fragments were achieved by Rudinger's azide procedure. Finally, all protecting groups were removed by HF treatment followed by catalytic hydrogenation. The in vitro addition of the synthetic deacetyl-thymosin α1 at a dose of 100 μg/ml was able to restore the rosette-forming capaoity with sheep erythrocytes of lipoid nephrosis cells to normal levels. Our preparations of deacetyl-thymosin α1 and thymosin α1 were found to be equally active in cases of lipoid nephrosis.
