Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 9, 2026

Anticancer Metal Complexes: Synthesis and Cytotoxicity Evaluation by the MTT Assay
Published on: November 10, 2013
Biochemical and computational evaluation of Triptolide-induced cytotoxicity against NSCLC
Aida M Hamdi1, Zhen-Zhou Jiang2, Mounia Guerram1
1Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Drug Screening, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, China.
Abstract:
Triptolide is the major bioactive component isolated from the Chinese Medicinal plant Tripterygium wilfordii. Despite the growing interest and the plethora of reports discussing the pharmacological activity of this diterpenoid, no clear consensus regarding its cellular targets and full mechanism of action has been reached. In the present work, a combined in vitro and in silico approach was used to evaluate the biological activity of Triptolide on Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In vitro, Triptolide treatment induced apoptosis in NSCLC cell lines and down-regulated the phosphorylation of AKT, mTOR, and p70S6K. Triptolide also impacted cellular glycolysis as well as the antioxidant response through the impairment of glucose utilization, HKII, glutathione, and NRF2 levels. Molecular docking results examined the possible interactions between Triptolide and AKT and predicted an allosteric binding to AKT-1 structure. Molecular dynamics simulations were further used to evaluate the stability of the complex formed by Triptolide's best conformer and AKT. These findings provide an insightful approach to the anticancer effect of Triptolide against NSCLC and highlight a possible new role for AKT/mTOR HKII inhibition.
Related Concept Videos
Computed Tomography
The technique was invented in the 1970s and is based on the principle that as X-rays pass through the body, they are absorbed or reflected at different levels. In the technique, a patient lies on a motorized platform while a computerized axial tomography (CAT) scanner rotates...
Design Example: Traverse Angle Computations
Area Computation by the Alternative Coordinate Method
Cytotoxic T Cells-mediated Immune Response
Immunological surveillance is the ability of immune cells to monitor and eliminate infected cells with intracellular pathogens, neoplastically transformed cells, and cells with non-self antigens. Cytotoxic T cells and NK...
Imaging Studies III: Computed Tomography
The Role of Ion Channels in Neuronal Computation
Sometimes a single EPSP is strong enough to induce an action potential in the postsynaptic neuron. However, multiple presynaptic inputs must often create EPSPs around the same time for the postsynaptic neuron to be sufficiently depolarized to fire an action potential....

