As a major active component extracted from traditional Chinese herb

Tripterygium wilfordii

Hook F

triptolide exhibits multiple pharmacological effects. Autophagy is an evolutionary conserved intracellular catabolic process involved in cytoplasmic materials degradation. Autophagic dysfunction contributes to the pathologies of many human diseases

which makes it a promising therapeutic target. Recent studies have shown that triptolide exerts neuroprotection

anti-tumor activities

organ toxicity

and podocyte protection by modulating autophagy. This article highlights the current information on triptolide-modulated autophagy

analyzes the possible pathways involved

and describes the crosstalk between autophagy and apoptosis modulated by triptolide

in hope of providing implications for the roles of autophagy in pharmacological effects of triptolide and expanding its novel usage as an autophagy modulator.