Thymosin β4: multiple functions in protection, repair and regeneration of the mammalian heart

Abstract

Introduction: Despite recent improvements in interventional medicine, cardiovascular disease still represents the major cause of morbidity worldwide, with myocardial infarction being the most common cardiac injury. This has sustained the development of several regenerative strategies based on the use of stem cells and tissue engineering approaches in order to achieve cardiac repair and regeneration by enhancing coronary neovascularization, modulating acute inflammation and supporting myocardial regeneration to provide new functional muscle.

Areas covered: The actin monomer binding peptide, Thymosin β4 (Tβ4), has recently been described as a powerful regenerative agent with angiogenic, anti-inflammatory and cardioprotective effects on the heart and which specifically acts on its resident cardiac progenitor cells. In this review we will discuss the state of the art regarding the many roles of Tβ4 in preserving and regenerating the mammalian heart, with specific attention to its ability to activate the quiescent adult epicardium and specific subsets of epicardial progenitor cells for repair.

Expert opinion: The therapeutic potential of Tβ4 for the treatment of cardiac failure is herein evaluated alongside existing, emerging and prospective novel treatments.

Keywords:

• cardiac progenitor cells
• cardiac regeneration
• myocardial infarction
• paracrine effect
• thymosin β4

Acknowledgments

Some of the material described in this paper was previously presented during the 4th International Symposium on Thymosins in Health and Disease held on October 23rd – 25th 2014 in Rome, Italy.

Declaration of interest

This paper is part of a supplemental issue, sponsored by SciClone. Funding was received from the Programma Giovani Ricercatori ‘Rita Levi Montalcini’ 2012 by the Italian Ministry of Education and Research, Italy to S Bollini and the British Heart Foundation to N Smart and PR Riley. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Notes

This box summarizes key points contained in the article.