[Advances in the study of immunopharmacological effects and mechanisms of extracts of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. f. in neuroimmunologic disorders].

Abstract

Extracts of Chinese herb Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. f. (TWHF) have been found to have potent anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive functions and widely used in China for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Also they have been considered to be the potential drugs in the treatment of tumor and acute graft rejections. With the progress of neuroimmunological research on neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson disease (PD) and multiple sclerosis (MS), the neuroprotective strategies to rescue neurons from immunological injury are currently being explored. Recently, studies have indicated that extracts of TWHF such as triptolide, tripchlorolide and (5R)-5-hydroxytriptolide are able to attenuate progression of these neuroimmunologic disorders in vitro and in vivo. Accumulating evidence has shown that they can promote neuronal survival and neurite growth and facilitate functional recovery of brain injury by invoking distinct mechanisms that are related to their neuroprotective roles as inhibitor of neuroinflammatory toxicity of activated-microglia, antioxidants, calcium channel blockers, neurotrophic actions, modulating T cell functions, inhibitor of transcriptional activation of NF-kappaB on genes and signaling. Significant pharmaceutical strategies against neuroimmunologic disorders will hopefully be discovered by understanding the valuable components of TWHF.