Antitumor activation of peritoneal macrophages by thymosin alpha-1.

It was been previously reported that thyalpha1 can be used to activate monocytes, BMDM and TAM. However, the effect of thyalpha1 on other tissue macrophages has not been investigated. Moreover, there is no report about the use of thyalpha1-treated macrophages in adoptive immunotherapy of cancer. In view of these observations in the present study, we checked the response of various tissue macrophages to thyalpha1 for activation. Tissue macrophages showed differential response to thyalpha1; moreover, adoptive transfer of peritoneal macrophages treated with thyalpha1 to mice bearing spontaneous T-cell lymphoma designated as Dalton's lymphoma (DL) resulted in the prolongation of the survival time of tumor-bearing mice. The mechanism of macrophage therapy-dependent tumor regression was enhanced antitumor activity of macrophages in response to thyalpha1 treatment via their production of macrophage-activating cytokines that act in autocrine manner. These results will help in the development of immunotherapy against tumor based on activation of macrophage with thyalpha1.