Botanicals have attracted much attention in the field of anti-inflammatory due to their good pharmacological activity and efficacy. Andrographis paniculata is a natural plant ingredient that is widely used around the world. Andrographolide is the main active ingredient derived from Andrographis paniculata, which has a good effect on the treatment of inflammatory diseases. This article reviews the application, anti-inflammatory mechanism and molecular targets of andrographolide in different inflammatory diseases, including respiratory, digestive, immune, nervous, cardiovascular, skeletal, and tumor system diseases. And describe its toxicity and explain its safety. Studies have shown that andrographolide can be used to treat inflammatory lesions of various systemic diseases. In particular, it acts on many inflammation-related signalling pathways. The future direction of andrographolide research is also introduced, as is the recent research that indicates its potential clinical application as an anti-inflammatory agent.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by symmetric polyarthritis with swelling and pain at synovial joints. In RA patients, delayed neutrophil apoptosis amplifies the inflammatory response and massively released neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) induce tissue damage and provide self-antigens. Andrographolide (AD) is the major active labdane diterpenoid derived from Andrographis paniculata, which has multiple pharmacological effects, including hepatoprotection, anti-angiogenesis, anti-thrombosis, and anti-inflammation. In the present study, we investigated the effect of AD on an adjuvant-induced arthritis (AA) murine model of RA and found that AD alleviated murine arthritis by reducing neutrophil infiltration and NETosis in the ankle joints and relieved the systematic inflammation. In vitro experiments showed that AD accelerated the apoptosis of lipopolysaccharide-activated neutrophils and inhibited autophagy-dependent extracellular traps formation of neutrophils. These findings suggest that AD has considerable potential for RA therapy.

Cancer poses a substantial risk to human life and wellbeing as a result of its elevated incidence and fatality rates. Endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) is an important pathway that regulates cellular homeostasis. When ERS is under- or overexpressed, it activates the protein kinase R (PKR)-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK)-, inositol-requiring enzyme 1 (IRE1)- and activating transcription Factor 6 (ATF6)-related apoptotic pathways to induce apoptosis. Tumor cells and microenvironment are susceptible to ERS, making the modulation of ERS a potential therapeutic approach for treating tumors. The use of natural products to treat tumors has substantially progressed, with various extracts demonstrating antitumor effects. Nevertheless, there are few reports on the effectiveness of natural products in inducing apoptosis by specifically targeting and regulating the ERS pathway. Further investigation and elaboration of its mechanism of action are still needed. This paper examines the antitumor mechanism of action by which natural products exert antitumor effects from the perspective of ERS regulation to provide a theoretical basis and new research directions for tumor therapy.