Tripterine inhibits proliferation and promotes apoptosis of keloid fibroblasts by targeting ROS/JNK signaling

J Burn Care Res. 2023 Jul 12:irad106. doi: 10.1093/jbcr/irad106. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTKeloids are benign skin tumors characterized by excessive fibroblast proliferation and collagen deposition. The current treatment of keloids with hormone drug injection, surgical excision, radiotherapy, physical compression, laser therapy, cryotherapy often have unsatisfactory outcomes. The phytochemical compounds have shown great potential in treating keloids. Tripterine, a natural triterpene derived from the traditional Chinese medicine Thunder God Vine (Tripterygium wilfordii), was previously reported to exhibit an anti-scarring bioactivity in mouse embryonic fibroblast NIH/3T3 cells. Accordingly, our study was dedicated to explore its role in regulating the pathological phenotypes of keloid fibroblasts. Human keloid fibroblasts were treated with tripterine (0-10 μM) for 24 h. Cell viability, proliferation, migration, apoptosis and extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition were determined by CCK-8, EdU, wound healing, Transwell, flow cytometry, western blotting and RT-qPCR assays. The effects of tripterine treatment on ROS generation and JNK activation in keloid fibroblasts were assessed by DCFH-DA staining and western blotting analysis. Tripterine at the concentrations higher than 4 μM attenuated the viability of human keloid fibroblasts in a dose-dependent manner. Treatment with tripterine (4, 6, and 8 μM) dose-dependently inhibited cell proliferation and migration, promoted cel...
Source: Cell Research - Category: Cytology Authors: Source Type: research