Thymosin alpha-1-transformed Bifidobacterium promotes T cell proliferation and maturation in mice by oral administration.

Thymosin alpha-1 (Tα1) has been used as an immune potentiator for treatment of immune deficiency diseases by injection administration. However, injection is inconvenient and may cause many side effects. In order to improve the administration convenience of Tα1, a human Tα1 gene transformed Bifidobacterium longum (BL-Tα1) was prepared and its effects on mice immunity by oral administration were investigated.