Study on the Expression Patterns of Thymosin β4 and Vascular Endothelial Cell Growth Factor (VEGF) in Normal Human Tissues Using Tissue Microarray

The study investigated the expression patterns of thymosin β4 and VEGF in various normal human adult tissues using tissue microarray analysis. Thymosin β4, a small protein with 43 amino acids, was highly expressed in the liver, pancreas, ductal epithelium of the salivary gland, and heart, and moderately expressed in the skin, lung, spleen, lymph node, thymus, ureter, and blood endothelial cells in both the lung and adrenal gland. VEGF expression generally co-localized with thymosin β4 and was highly expressed in the pancreas, ureter, mammary gland, liver, esophagus, and blood endothelial cells in both the lung and adrenal gland. The results suggested that thymosin β4 played an important role in the function of various organs and might induce or maintain angiogenesis due to its co-localization with VEGF.