Triptolide regulates immune response network against systemic lupus erythematosus

Traditional Chinese medicine has been using Tripterygium wilfordii Hook f. (TWHF) against systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) over 200 years. Triptolide is an active compound of TWHF with therapeutic effects for auto-immune disease SLE. However, till now, few associated studies were reported and little is known about the mechanism of triptolide against SLE which blocks the new drug discovery. In this study, focused on the proteins participated in the process of immune respond, an integrated bioinformatics analysis covering targeted proteins, SLE OMIM genes, biological process enrichment, and protein-protein interactions (PPI) was deployed. As a result, the candidate therapeutic network against SLE with negative regulation of immune response was proposed. It contains a PPI network of 7 targeted proteins and 7 SLE OMIM genes further regulated by triptolide. Primary validation of this network indicating that processes of apoptosis and pro-inflammatory processes were involved.