Thymosin beta 4 and a synthetic peptide containing its actin-binding domain promote dermal wound repair in db/db diabetic mice and in aged mice

Philp D, Badamchian M, Scheremeta B, Nguyen M, Goldstein AL, Kleinman HK · Wound Repair and Regeneration

Tβ4 increased wound contracture and collagen deposition in diabetic mice and accelerated healing in aged mice; the LKKTETQ fragment alone matched the whole protein in the aged animals — the main published evidence that the fragment sold as TB-500 does anything at all.

Population

db/db diabetic mice, 26-month-old aged mice and normal rats with full-thickness dermal wounds

Intervention

Thymosin β4 in saline or hydrogel; separately the seven-amino-acid actin-binding fragment LKKTETQ

Comparator

Vehicle

Limitations

Rodent dermal wounds; authors hold thymosin-related interests; keratinocyte migration did not differ in the diabetic arm, so the effect was not uniform across measures.