A radioimmunoassay for thymosin α1 that detects the native polypeptide, prothymosin α

A radioimmunoassay, developed for thymosin α1, can also be utilized for the quantitation of the intact native polypeptide, prothymosin α, which contains the thymosin α1 sequence at its NH2-terminus (Haritos et al., 1984). The major epitope was characterized and found to include residues 1-10 at the NH2-terminus of thymosin α1. As little as 5 pmol of prothymosin α can be detected in tissue extracts with this radioimmunoassay. (Auth.)