Effects of celastrol on human cervical cancer cells as revealed by ion-trap gas chromatography-mass spectrometry based metabolic profiling

► Celastrol induces apoptosis in HeLa cells by ΔΨm↓ and capase-3 activation. ► Celastrol down-regulates HeLa cells' energy, amino acids and nucleic acid metabolism. ► Metabolomic investigation on celastrol is validated using positive control drugs. ► GC/MS-based metabolomic approach elucidates celastrol's pharmacological mechanism.