STAT3 and colitis: Triptolide (0.1,0.3,1m g/kg/d for 20 weeks), also extracted from Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F, was reported to suppress the development of colitis and colon cancer through inducing cell apoptosis and regulating the IL-6/JAK/STAT pathway by inhibiting cyclinD1/CDK4 expression and STAT3/IL6R/JAK1 levels, respectively (Wang et al., 2009).