Functional and profiling studies prove that prostate cancer upregulated neuroblastoma thymosin β is the true human homologue of rat thymosin β15

A peptide with a sequence identical to rat thymosin beta(Tb)15 was reported to be upregulated in human prostate cancer. However, in this report we provide evidence that TbNB, initially identified in human neuroblastoma, is the only Tb isoform upregulated in human prostate cancer and that the Tb15 sequence is not present herein. In addition, we demonstrate that human TbNB has a higher affinity for actin in comparison to Tb4 and promotes cell migration. In combination, this experimentally validates TbNB as functional homologue of rat Tb15 in the human organism and clarifies the current composition of the human Tb family. (c) 2007 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.