Celastrol (tripterine) is a chemical compound isolated from the root extracts of Tripterygium wilfordii (Thunder god vine) and Tripterygium regelii (Regel's threewingnut). Celastrol is a pentacyclic nortriterpen quinone and belongs to the family of quinone methides. In mice, celastrol is an NR4A1 agonist that alleviates inflammation and induces autophagy.[2] Also in mice, celastrol increase expression of IL1R1, which is the receptor for the cytokine interleukin-1 (IL-1). IL1R1 knock-out mice exposed to celastrol exhibit no leptin-sensitizing or anti-obesity effect.[3]
Celastrol inhibits IKK-NF-κB signaling via multiple molecular targets: direct inhibition of IKKα and β kinases, inactivation of CDC37 and p23, which are HSP90 chaperone proteins, inhibition of proteasome function and activation of HSF1, which triggers the heat shock response. The available evidence indicates that celastrol bonds covalently to the thiol groups of cysteine residues in its molecular targets.[19]
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^Kim DH, Shin EK, Kim YH, Lee BW, Jun JG, Park JH, Kim JK (September 2009). "Suppression of inflammatory responses by celastrol, a quinone methide triterpenoid isolated from Celastrus regelii". European Journal of Clinical Investigation. 39 (9): 819–27. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2362.2009.02186.x. PMID19549173. S2CID205291261.
^Zhu H, Liu XW, Cai TY, Cao J, Tu CX, Lu W, et al. (August 2010). "Celastrol acts as a potent antimetastatic agent targeting beta1 integrin and inhibiting cell-extracellular matrix adhesion, in part via the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway". The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. 334 (2): 489–99. doi:10.1124/jpet.110.165654. PMID20472666. S2CID25854329.
^Byun JY, Kim MJ, Eum DY, Yoon CH, Seo WD, Park KH, et al. (October 2009). "Reactive oxygen species-dependent activation of Bax and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 is required for mitochondrial cell death induced by triterpenoid pristimerin in human cervical cancer cells". Molecular Pharmacology. 76 (4): 734–44. doi:10.1124/mol.109.056259. PMID19574249. S2CID6541041.
^Avilla J, Teixidò A, Velázquez C, Alvarenga N, Ferro E, Canela R (January 2000). "Insecticidal activity of Maytenus species (Celastraceae) nortriterpene quinone methides against codling moth, Cydia pomonella (L.) (Lepidoptera: tortricidae)". Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 48 (1): 88–92. doi:10.1021/jf990008w. PMID10637057.
^Kyriakou E, Schmidt S, Dodd GT, et al. Celastrol Promotes Weight Loss in Diet-Induced Obesity by Inhibiting the Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases PTP1B and TCPTP in the Hypothalamus. J Med Chem. 2018;61(24):11144-11157. doi:10.1021/acs.jmedchem.8b01224
^Salminen A, Lehtonen M, Paimela T, Kaarniranta K (April 2010). "Celastrol: Molecular targets of Thunder God Vine". Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 394 (3): 439–42. doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2010.03.050. PMID20226165.