Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0003873 (rheumatoid arthritis)
 53,068 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The effect on peripheral T-lymphocytes of Thymopentin (TP-5), asynthetic pentapeptide reproducing the biological activity of Thymopoietin, is known in Herpes Simplex infections and in Rheumatoid Arthritis. The aim of this study was to observe the effect of TP-5 on the OKT4 and OKT8 lymphocytes in Multiple Sclerosis. The AA. have studied this effect in two patients affected by definite MS, whose lymphocytes subpopulation, observed for 33 and 13.5 months respectively, showed a constant OKT4/OKT8 ratio greater than 2.5 in peripheral blood and whose clinical course was chronically progressive. TP-5 was administered during a period of one month. A decrease of the OKT4/OKT8 ratio in both patients (significant in one, p less than 0.01) due to the increase of OKT8 was observed. Also the clinical symptomatology improved in one patient.
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PMID:Effect of thymopentin on peripheral blood T-lymphocytes subsets and on the clinical course of the disease in patients affected by multiple sclerosis. 166 25

Thymopoietin and thymopentin are well characterized polypeptides influencing immunoregulation by several mechanisms. Proposed as a therapy in diseases with major immune abnormalities such as rheumatoid arthritis, thymopentin improved within 2 weeks some clinical parameters as pain and joint swelling. The hypothesis that this spectacular effect could be mediated through interactions with anti-inflammatory (ACTH) and pain relieving (beta-endorphin) hormones producing cells was tested on the rat isolated pituitary cell model. Thymopentin and thymopoietin can enhance in vitro the levels of ACTH, beta-endorphin and beta-lipotropin in a time- and dose-dependent fashion for physiological concentrations ranging from 10(-12) to 10(-8) mol/l. The action on pituitary cells was restricted to those molecules as no changes occurred in LH, FSH, GH, TSH and PRL levels, after otherwise identical experimental conditions.
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PMID:Thymopoietin and thymopentin enhance the levels of ACTH, beta-endorphin and beta-lipotropin from rat pituitary cells in vitro. 282 Jan 73

Thymopentin (TP-5), the active side of thymopoietin, was shown to affect immunoregulation. The effect of this drug in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was evaluated. Three trials were performed: a six month double-blind trial comparing TP-5 administered subcutaneously to placebo at 3 different dosages, an open longterm study in which the same dosage of the drug was administered subcutaneously, and a shortterm (3 weeks) double-blind trial in which the drug was given intravenously at a high dosage (100 mg/day). In none of these 3 studies were statistically significant improvements registered in the TP-5 treated patients, although there were important improvements in individual patients. Serious side effects were not encountered, but the majority of patients did not improve or were withdrawn because of ineffectiveness. The beneficial effect of TP-5 on the clinical evolution of RA, reported elsewhere, could not be confirmed by these studies.
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PMID:Thymopoietin pentapeptide (thymopentin, TP-5) in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. A compilation of several short- and longterm clinical studies. 638 7

Although the etiology of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is unknown, there is solid evidence that immunological factors play a pivotal role in its pathogenesis. It seems that a hyporeactivity of local (intraarticular) T-suppressor cells would permit an excessive immune response that ultimately leads to the classical symptoms and signs of inflammation and cartilage damage. Thymopentin is a synthetic pentapeptide (Arg-Lys-Asp-Val-Tyr) which represents the active biologic site (sequence 32-36) of the native thymic hormone thymopoietin, containing 49 amino acids. Thymopoietin and thymopentin have been shown to possess immuno-normalizing properties in a number of animal model systems. Low concentrations of the hormone characteristically stimulate the OKT4-positive cells, whereas higher concentrations additionally induce stimulation of OKT8-positive cells. This report summarizes the clinical experience collected by Italian investigators, and discusses the results with a view to previously published papers.
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PMID:Thymopentin treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. 781 90