Dalakas M C, Engel W K, McClure J E, Goldstein A L, Askanas V
J Neurol Sci. 1981 May;50(2):239-47. doi: 10.1016/0022-510x(81)90170-2.
Thymosin alpha 1 (alpha 1) is a potent thymic polypeptide hormone. With antibodies against synthetic thymosin alpha 1, indirect immunofluorescence was applied to human normal thymus and to hyperplastic, thymomatous or "involuted" thymus of myasthenia gravis (MG) patients. Alpha 1 was localized only in the epithelial cells, lying singly, grouped, in Hassall's corpuscles or proliferated in thymomas. In contrast to normal thymus, which had fewer and more weakly stained cells, MG hyperplastic thymus had many strongly positive epithelial cells: this was markedly evident in thymomas. "Involuted" MG thymus had a few but brightly stained cells lying within the fatty tissue. In tissue cultures of human thymus, anti-alpha 1 stained the epithelial cells, but not fibroblasts. These findings: (a) demonstrate the origin of the thymic hormone alpha 1 to be the thymic epithelial cell; (b) raise the possibility that excess alpha 1 may act pathologically to facilitate and perpetuate the dysimmune mechanism in MG; (c) may partially explain the beneficial effect of thymectomy in MG patients of any age; and (d) suggest that epithelial cells may be autonomous for the production of alpha 1 as evidenced by their positivity in tissue culture.
胸腺素α1（α1）是一种强效的胸腺多肽激素。利用抗合成胸腺素α1的抗体，采用间接免疫荧光法检测人正常胸腺以及重症肌无力（MG）患者的增生性、胸腺瘤性或“萎缩性”胸腺。α1仅定位于上皮细胞，这些上皮细胞单个存在、成组分布于哈氏小体中，或在胸腺瘤中增殖。与正常胸腺相比，正常胸腺中染色细胞较少且染色较弱，而MG增生性胸腺中有许多强阳性上皮细胞：这在胸腺瘤中尤为明显。“萎缩性”MG胸腺在脂肪组织中有少数但染色明亮的细胞。在人胸腺组织培养中，抗α1抗体可使上皮细胞染色，但不能使成纤维细胞染色。这些发现：（a）证明胸腺激素α1起源于胸腺上皮细胞；（b）增加了过量α1可能通过病理作用促进和维持MG中的免疫失调机制的可能性；（c）可能部分解释了胸腺切除术对任何年龄MG患者的有益作用；（d）表明上皮细胞可能自主产生α1，这在组织培养中其阳性表现得到了证实。
