ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the work of a number of scientists keyed to the isolation and elucidation of thymus-produced biochemicals. Anticancer Thymic Hormones was found to induce hydration and decrease lipid content in the cerebral structures of the rabbit. The question thus posed was how the immune mechanism arising in the thymus acted — or specifically, were humoral factors involved. Cells have been found in empty chambers indicating host cell penetration, and the experiments appear to lack repeatability. A number of reports in the 1930s and 1940s encouraged a search for a thymus hypocalcemic factor. Human thymosin and bovine thymosin have similar biological and chemical properties. The overwhelming evidence indicates that the presence of a functioning thymus offers some degree of protection against all forms of cancer studied, except those of thymic origin or involvement. Triphenyltin acetate and triphenyltin chloride cause degenerative changes in testicular tissue in rats, and dramatic reduction of fecundity in snails.
