Gene cloning and bioactive analysis of thymosin-β4 from skin of Nanorana yunnanensis / 中国药理学通报

ABSTRACT

Aim To investigate the gene sequences and pro-angiogenic activities of thymosin-β4 from skin of Nanorana yunnanensis. Methods Two cDNA se-quences of thymosin-β4 from Nanorana yunnanensis designated as pTβ4-1 and pTβ4-2 were obtained by PCR. The tube formation and proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells ( HUVEC ) and chick-en chorioallantoic membrane ( CAM) model were used to observe the pro-angiogenic effects of synthetic pep-tides according to the reduced amino acid sequences of pTβ4-1 and pTβ4-2 in vitro and in vivo, respectively. Results The cDNA sequences of Tβ4-1 and pTβ4-2 were composed of 662 bp and 673 bp, respectively, and their deduced amino acid sequences contained 44 residues which shared highly similarity with those from human , mouse , chicken , claw frog , zebra fish , turbot and Amolops loloensis. Furthermore, the mature amino acid sequences of pTβ4-1 and pTβ4-2 had highly con-served structural regions when compared with other thy-mosin-β4 previously reported. Synthetic peptides could significantly promote proliferation and tube formation of HUVEC and angiogenesis of CAM. Conclusion There are two thymosin-β4 peptides in skins of Nanorana yunnanensis which have pro-angiogenic ac-tivities.