Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37408016›Full record

ArticleAdvances in rheumatology (London, England)2023

Triptolide regulates the balance of Tfr/Tfh in lupus mice.

Xia Zhao, Wei Ji, Yan Lu, Weiwei Liu, Feng Guo

Open access · diamondAbstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Advances in rheumatology (London, England), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
4.0field-weighted citation impact, top 7% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Review
  4. Review
  5. Diterpenes: Nature's Hidden Gems of Immunomodulation.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025
    Review
  6. Article
  7. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Xia ZhaoDepartment of Rheumatology, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210027, China.ORCID 0000-0001-8024-4715
Wei JiDepartment of Rheumatology, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210027, China.
Yan LuDepartment of Rheumatology, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210027, China.
Weiwei LiuDepartment of Medical Examination Center, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210027, China.
Feng GuoDepartment of Rheumatology, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210027, China. fsyy00713@njucm.edu.cn.
Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

INTRODUCTION/

objectivesSystemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a classic prototype of the multisystem autoimmune disease and follows a relapsing and remitting course. Triptolide is a diterpene triepoxide extracted from Chinese medicine Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F, with potent immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory properties. Our previous work observed that triptolide alleviated lupus in MRL/lpr lupus mice with the upregulation of regulatory T cells (Treg) proportion in previous study. In this study, we explored the proportion of follicular T regulatory (Tfr), follicular T helper (Tfh) and germinal center (GC) B cells in lupus mice and evaluated the efficacy of triptolide for lupus treatment in vivo.

methods20 female MRL/lpr mice were randomly divided into 2 treatment groups and treated orally with vehicle or triptolide. C3H mice were all housed as controlled group and treated orally with vehicle. The percentage of Tfr cells, Tfh cells and GC B cells in spleen of mice were detected by Flow cytometric analysis and immunohistochemistry after 13 weeks of treatment.

resultsWe found that the percentage of Tfr cells decreased in MRL/lpr mice compared with controlled mice. The percentage of Tfh cells in MRL/lpr mice was significantly higher compared with that in controlled mice. The ratio of Tfr/Tfh is also decreased in lupus mice. After treated with triptolide in MRL/Lpr mice in vivo, the percentage of Tfr cells and ratio of Tfr/Tfh increased. The proportion of GC B cells also decreased in mice treated with triptolide by FACS and immunohistochemistry.

conclusionsOur results demonstrate that the effect of triptolide in alleviating lupus is partly by reversing immune imbalance with increased percentage of Tfr cells and ratio of Tfr/Tfh. Triptolide might also has effect on immune response through inhibiting proliferating GC B cells.

Indexed as

DiterpenesT Follicular Helper CellsAnimalsEpoxy CompoundsFemaleHumansMiceMice, Inbred C3HMice, Inbred MRL lprPhenanthrenesT-Lymphocytes, Helper-InducerDiterpenesEpoxy CompoundsPhenanthrenestriptolideFollicular T helper cellFollicular T regulatory cellGerminal center B cellSystemic lupus erythematosusTriptolide

Identifiers

PMID37408016
OpenAlexW4383217444

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.