Thymus Index and Spleen Index Assay

The thymus index and spleen index are the ratios of organ weight to body weight, used in rodent studies as a proxy for immune status or immune restoration. The convention appears repeatedly in the source archive thymus dossier, and it explains why so many otherwise unrelated entries look structurally similar: they share a single, indirect, non-clinical endpoint.

Where it appears in the source dossier

• CN115364127 — Lactobacillus plantarum DMDL9010 + FOS95, claimed to increase spleen and thymus indexes to normal levels in immunosuppressed mice, alongside recovery of fur, intestinal wall thickness, villus length, blood cell percentages, serum immunoglobulins and interleukins.
• CN102688312 — A nine-ingredient Chinese medicinal herb agent, claimed to "remarkably increase the thymus and spleen weights as well as the thymus and spleen indexes of a cyclophosphamide immunosuppressed rat."
• CN102429951 — A flavone-saponin extract of humifuse euphorbia herb, claimed to "improve thymus gland organs and promote the growth of immune organs" in a mouse U14 cervical cancer model.
• CN111617110 — A method patent measuring weight indexes of reproductive and immune organs including thymus and spleen in young male mice, alongside reticuloendothelial carbon-particle clearance.
• CN106177091 — A TCM-plus-azithromycin composition claimed to have "a good application effect on lowering thymus visceral indexes."

Why this matters

The organ-weight index is a coarse, indirect readout. It does not measure T-cell output, thymic architecture, or clinical immune function. When a dossier's evidence consists almost entirely of this endpoint, the reader should treat the results as hypothesis-generating at best. The dossier reports no effect sizes, no statistics and no independent replication for any of these entries. See Patent as Evidence and Thymus Therapy Claims vs. Evidence: The Patent-Abstract Dossier Without Clinical Data.