Exogenous thymosin beta4 prevents apoptosis in human intervertebral annulus cells in vitro

Tapp H, Deepe R, Ingram JA, Yarmola EG, Bubb MR, Hanley EN Jr, Gruber HE · Biotechnic & Histochemistry

Tβ4 at 800 nM significantly reduced the proportion of apoptotic annulus cells under both stresses (46.9% to 21.4% after peroxide, p = 0.044; 38.8% to 12.3% after serum starvation, p = 0.035), while 30 and 100 nM did not. Proteoglycan production was unchanged on both assay and histology and proliferation did not change — cell survival improved without any matrix response.

Population

Human intervertebral disc annulus cells from nine surgical patients, in monolayer and three-dimensional culture

Intervention

Exogenous thymosin β4 at 30 to 800 nM for 24 h before apoptosis was induced by hydrogen peroxide or serum starvation; 30 nM for 14 days in three-dimensional culture for matrix output

Comparator

Untreated cultures

Limitations

Culture study in disc fibrocartilage, not articular cartilage. The matrix test ran at 30 nM, a dose 27 times lower than the one that prevented apoptosis, so matrix synthesis at the dose that prevented apoptosis is untested. Funded by a hospital foundation, a back-pain research endowment, the Department of Veterans Affairs, NIAMS and the National Science Foundation.