期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：1977
卷号：74
期号：3
页码：1250-1253
DOI：10.1073/pnas.74.3.1250
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：Thymic function was evaluated by quantitation of circulating thymic factor in patients with several forms of severe infantile immunodeficiency diseases. Direct quantitation of thymic factor in serum of patients with severe combined immunodeficiency revealed heterogeneity of this syndrome by this parameter, as was also shown by study of susceptibility of the marrow cells to differentiation in vitro. Thymic factor was not detectable in one patient with severe combined immunodeficiency, but was present in normal or near-normal concentrations in three others. Circulating levels of this hormonal activity were also not detectable in a patient with DiGeorge athymic syndrome. Following marrow or fetal liver transplantation, which corrected the severe combined immunodeficiency thymic factor levels either increased slightly or did not change appreciably. Fetal thymic transplantation, which together with fetal liver transplantation corrected the immunodeficiency in one patient with severe combined immunodeficiency, was associated with increase of thymic factor to normal levels. Fetal thymus transplantation alone, which was employed to correct the immunodeficiency of DiGeorge athymic syndrome, caused an increase in thymic factor activity to normal or near normal levels in this patient.
