Additional treatment with thymosins α1 significantly increases disease-free survival and overall survival after surgical resection of non-small cell lung cancer in stages IA to IIIA.

In article published December 2021 Chinese researchers describe conclusions from long-term study about survival of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after resection in years 2005 to 2018. NSCLC is type of malignant lung cancer which is resistant to chemotherapy, but treatable with surgical procedure or radiotherapy.

Out of 10 550 all patients scientist focused on group of 5 746 patients among who 1 027 were cured using Ta1. On next step their health condition was analyzed in 5 years following surgical resection. Among patients cured with Tα1 5-year overall survival was 83.3% compared to 72.7% in patients not cured with Tα1. 5-year disease-free survival was respectively 77.3% and 64.7%.

Subsequent conclusion was Tα1 therapy had positive effect in subgroups divided by sex, age, smoking history, cancer stage except for patients with squamous carcinoma and those who received targeted therapy. Unfortunately, researchers could not tell which subgroup benefited most.

Last observation was distinction of survival based on length of Tα1 treatment, there was significant difference between groups cured <12 months, 12 – 24 months and >24 months, so recommendation is for therapy to be longer than 24 months.

Paper was published in “Chinese Medical Journal”, available here: https://doi.org/10.1097/CM9.0000000000001819