Thymosin Beta 4 Research Leads Toward Potential Future Anti-aging Therapy

ROCKVILLE, Md., Jan. 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCQB: RGRX) ("RegeneRx" or "Company"), a clinical-stage drug development company focused on tissue protection, repair, and regeneration, is reporting today a new scientific publication describing Thymosin beta 4's (Tβ4) potential as an anti-aging therapy.

Using the heart as a model experimental system, a research team from Hungary and the United States summarized and expanded upon their previous results regarding Thymosin beta 4 (Tβ4) to support their anti-aging hypothesis. They investigated the developmental expression of Tβ4 in mouse embryos and determined the impact of the molecule in adult animals by systemically injecting the peptide following acute cardiac infarction (heart attack) compared to no myocardial injury.

Their research proved that Tβ4 is expressed in the developing heart and promotes cardiac cell migration and survival. In adult animals, the peptide enhanced myocyte survival and improved cardiac function after coronary artery ligation (surgically blocking the artery to induce injury). Intravenous injections of Tβ4 altered the structure of the adult epicardium (heart), and the changes resemble the characteristics of the embryo by increasing number of cardiac vessels and by the alteration of the gene expression profile typical of the embryonic state. Finally, the researchers discovered Tβ4 is capable of epicardial progenitor activation, and revealed the effect is independent of hypoxic injury.

"The finding that administration of Tβ4 in healthy animal models can increase the number of cardiac vessels, alter gene expression, and produce epicardial progenitor cells, which are necessary for cardiac tissue formation, in an undamaged heart, is an extremely important scientific discovery. It demonstrates that administration of Tβ4 could possibly be utilized to regenerate an aging heart and perhaps prevent or slow down the aging process itself. Since in animal models Tβ4 has shown it can regenerate damaged tissue in other organs, such as the brain, lung, liver and kidney, it will be important to see if it demonstrates the same effects in uninjured or aging organs outside of the heart," stated Dr. Allan Goldstein, RegeneRx Chief Scientific Advisor and Chairman Emeritus of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine at The George Washington University School of Medicine.

The publication is entitled, Thymosin beta-4 denotes new directions towards developing prosperous anti-aging regenerative therapies; Int Immunopharmacol. 2023 Jan 27;116:109741. doi: 10.1016/j.intimp.2023.109741.  

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SOURCE RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.