Overview of pharmacological activities of Andrographis paniculata and its major compound andrographolide

Abstract

Andrographis paniculata (A. paniculata) is a medicinal plant traditionally used as anti-inflammation and anti-bacteria herb. Andrographolide, the major active component of A. paniculata, exhibits diverse pharmacological activities, including anti-inflammation, anti-cancer, anti-obesity, anti-diabetes, and other activities. In this article, we comprehensively review the therapeutic potential of A. paniculata and andrographolide focusing on the mechanisms of action and clinical application. We systemically discuss the structure-activity relationship of andrographolide and derivatives. Despite the various pharmacological activities and formula of A. paniculata and andrographolide, we propose further development of more structural derivatives of andrographolide with reduced toxicity and increased therapeutic efficacy is still needed for the clinical application of this ancient mighty herb and its major component.

Keywords:

• Andrographis paniculata
• andrographolide
• mechanisms of action
• structure-activity-relationship

Competing interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be constructed as potential conflict of interest.

Author contributions

SC, YD, YTW, and YW mainly drafted the work critical for important intellectual content; YD, LC, and JZ analyzed SAR; all authors approved the version to be published.

Additional information

Funding

This work was partially supported by Macao Science and Technology Development Fund 041/2014/A1, Research Fund of the University of Macao MYRG 2016-00105-ICMS-QRCM, and MYRG 2017-00116-ICMS-QRCM to YW, and MYRG2015-00098-ICMS-QRCM to YTW.