Triptolide: A Potential Drug For Polycystic Kidney Disease

Triptolide: A Potential Drug For Polycystic Kidney Disease
A treatment for polycystic kidney disease (PKD), a leading cause of fatal kidney failure worldwide, has been identified by a research team led by Yale biochemist Craig Crews, according to a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Triptolide is a potent, biologically active compound isolated from the medicinal 'Thunder God Vine' Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F. The TCM tea Lei Gong Teng made from this plant has been used for centuries, as a therapeutic against cancer, inflammation, and auto-immune diseases. Crews and colleagues showed that triptolide causes cell growth arrest in certain cell types.