TB-500: The Research Behind This Popular Peptide

Written by Johnathon Anderson, Ph.D., a research scientist specializing in regenerative medicine and serving as an Associate Professor at the University of California Davis School of Medicine 

What is TB-500?

TB-500 is a potent peptide derived from thymosin beta-4 (Tβ4). TB-500 first grabbed headlines in the world of elite sports during athlete doping scandals involving Tour de France cyclists. (1) TB-500 has become a go-to peptide for many professional athletes seeking a competitive edge. (2) With 11 scientific, peer-reviewed publications exploring its effects, the peptide has shown remarkable potential for healing and regeneration.

Is TB-500 Different Than Thymosin Beta 4?

TB-500 is a powerful peptide that is a functional fragment of the thymosin beta-4 (Tβ4) peptide. (3) Tβ4 is a naturally occurring protein that has sparked immense scientific interest. Tβ4 has over 900 scientific, peer-reviewed publications exploring its potential as a therapy that spans many applications. This peptide, once the underground tool of top athletes, has become a controversial yet fascinating subject in recovery research.

How Does TB-500 Work?

Numerous studies have shown that optimizing Tβ4 levels could potentially unlock significant clinical benefits, such as facilitating healing and recovery by leveraging the body’s natural healing processes. (4) From wound healing to muscle repair, Tβ4’s therapeutic potential is paving the way for breakthrough treatments that could potentially redefine recovery and regeneration in modern medicine.

Published reports indicate that Tβ4 may potentially have the following beneficial properties:

• wound healing (4)

• vascular health (5)

• regeneration of hair follicles (6)

• 
  

Tβ4 has been the subject of more research than TB-500, since it was discovered first, back in 1970. (7) Tβ4 is present in many tissues of the body, including the thymus, brain, liver, kidney, testis, myocardium, and immune cells. (8) TB-500 is thought to possess many of the properties of Tβ4. Tβ4 has been shown to facilitate angiogenesis (9) and neurogenesis (10), with potent anti-inflammatory properties (11), tissue healing capabilities (12), and cardiovascular protection (14).

These wide-ranging regenerative properties indicate that Tβ4, and therefore potentially TB-500, may hold promise for the development of more natural therapies for a variety of indications. To date, there have been 16 Tβ4 clinical trials: 

https://clinicaltrials.gov/search?term=thymosin%20beta-4

References

1] https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dta.1402

2] https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/mar/09/circ-report-cycling-doping

3] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570023224000412?via%3Dihub

4] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022202X15405950

5] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27450736/

6] https://inflammregen.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s41232-023-00316-z#:~:text=Recent%20studies%20have%20shown%20that,regeneration%20%5B8%2C%209%5D.

7] https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.66.4.1170?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub++0pubmed

8] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6954532/

9] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28440414/

10] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26363149/

11] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19782721/

12] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28245754/

13] https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2012.06752.x