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For centuries now, traditional Chinese healers have been using herbal remedies and herbal therapy to cure a host of health problems. There has been a resurgence in the use of these herbal treatments in general, and of a herbal plant called the thunder god vine (lei gong teng) in particular. This plant is used to cure many health issues, including rheumatoid arthritis. A new report has been recently published in the Nature Chemical Biology journal, which is written by scientists from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The study has revealed that there is solid evidence the plant (known by the botanical name Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F) has potential anti-tumor and other healing properties — and they think they now know how it works. Thunder god vine (lei gong teng) contains compounds that help control the “machinery” of genes on the cellular level.

“Extracts of this medicinal plant have been used to treat a whole host of conditions and have been highly lauded for anti-inflammatory, immunosuppressive, contraceptive and anti-tumor activities,” Jun O. Liu, Ph.D., a professor of pharmacology and molecular sciences at Johns Hopkins, said in a media statement. “We’ve known about the active compound, triptolide, and that it stops cell growth, since 1972, but only now have we figured out what it does.”

The scientists have tested the natural health remedies that are extracted from this plant. In particular, they have tested triptolide’s impact on various proteins in the body. They have found that the effect that this herbal treatment has on RNA polymerase II can prevent inflammation, and also has the potential to treat cancer.

“And its behavior has important additional implications for circumventing the resistance that some cancer cells develop to certain anticancer drugs,” Dr. Liu added in a statement to the media. “We’re eager to study it further to see what it can do for future cancer therapy.”