Overview
- Lee, K.H. et al. (1977) Science 196, 533.
- Bork, P.M. et al. (1997) FEBS Lett. 402, 85.
Alomone Labs Parthenolide inhibits the NF-κB pathway in Jurkat and HeLa cells.Jurkat (A) and HeLa (B) cells were treated with different concentrations of Parthenolide (#P-250) for 1 h. Jurkat cells were then stimulated with 100 nM PMA (#P-800) and 1 µM Ionomycin (#I-700) for 15 min. Hela cells were stimulated with 4000 U/ml TNFα for 10 min. Cell proteins were resolved by SDS-PAGE and probed with anti-phospho-p65 NF-κB.
Parthenolide is a sesquiterpene lactone found in Mexican-Indian medicinal plants such as Tanacetum parthenium. It has been widely used in indigenous medical practices for the treatment of migraine, inflammation and tumors.1-4 Parthenolide inhibits IkB kinase (IKK) and IKKβ (the upstream activators of the Nuclear Factor-kB (NF-kB) pathway), thus inhibiting Interleukin 1- and tumor necrosis factor a (TNFα) without affecting the activation of p38 and c-Jun N-terminal kinase.5,6
In breast adenocarcinoma and pancreatic tumor cell lines which constitutively express active NF-κB, parthenolide inhibits NF-κB DNA binding and increases sensitivity to chemotherapeutic agents. The sensitivity of these tumor cells to parthenolide is due to the low expression level of the multifunctional detoxification enzyme glutathione S-transferase p caused by inhibition of NF-κB activity.7,10
