title: Immunosuppression of triptolide and its effect on skin allograft survival.
abstract: In this study the immunosuppressive properties of triptolide were evaluated. Triptolide was found to inhibit skin allograft rejection in a dose-dependent manner. This inhibitory effect was time dependent. Triptolide at 0.1 mg/kg/day significantly prolonged the graft survival when triptolide was given for 9 days after transplantation, but not before transplantation. In vitro studies showed that triptolide markedly suppressed cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) induction and mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) at concentrations ranging from 0.08 to 10 ng/ml. The inhibition on MLR was also significant when triptolide was added to the cultures at 36 h after initial incubation. Furthermore, exogenous IL-2 did not reverse this inhibitory effect of triptolide. Our results suggest that triptolide inhibits lymphocyte activation at a relatively late stage, and its effect on immune response is not exerted through altering IL-2 production.
authors.affiliation: Immunological Research Center, Beijing Medical University, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: S X
authors.initials: SX
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: H L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: W R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Z Z
authors.initials: ZZ
authors.lastname: Long
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004224:Diterpenes / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000633:toxicity; D004852:Epoxy Compounds; D005260:Female; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000187:drug effects*; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000494:pharmacology; D007959:Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D010616:Phenanthrenes; D016038:Skin Transplantation; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000187:drug effects; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
chemical_list: D004224:Diterpenes; D004852:Epoxy Compounds; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D007376:Interleukin-2; D010616:Phenanthrenes; C001899:triptolide