Extracted from Chinese herbal medicine Tripterygium wilfordii Hook f., triptolide is an active compound with positive therapeutic effects on immune-regulated disease of rheumatoid arthritis. However, the male reproductive toxicity blocks its wider clinical applications. With the mechanisms of male toxicity is still obscure, it is difficult to tackle its toxicity. In this study, triptolide's male reproductive toxicity mechanisms were carried out through integrated bioinformatics analysis which covers target proteins, further regulated testis proteins, biological process enrichment, and protein-protein interactions. As a result, (1) MYC was identified as the target protein; (2) testis proteins of CCNB1, EZH2, PEG10, and THBS1 were found participated in spermatogenesis; and (3) 3 new candidate testis proteins of CHKA, GAS1, and RCC1 were proposed which might be connected to the male reproductive toxicity.
['Guang Zheng', 'Minghui Yang', 'Yun Yang', 'Jihua Wang', 'Hongtao Guo', 'Xiaojuan He']
Triptolide targets on MYC towards testis may induce male reproductive toxicity