Andrographis paniculata (Burm.f.) Nees: Bridging Traditional Medicine and Modern Pharmacological Applications

Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Nees is a useful medicinal plant that's used in traditional medicine for treating inflammatory, infectious, metabolic and chronic diseases. This review provides a detailed investigation of its therapeutic versatility from a critical perspective based on traditional knowledge and authentic pharmacology and clinical findings. Hosted by the platform online, a systematic literature search was performed to find related articles from PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar between the years 2000 and 2025. The search was done for papers that contained information related to Andrographis paniculata and the information was found in clinical studies, review articles, and original research articles. This review includes 58 publications chosen from the pool of relevant ones (predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria). Numerous bioactive constituents including diterpenoid lactones, flavonoids, and phenols have been found in Andrographis paniculata, with andrographolide being the major bioactive marker with diverse pharmacological activities and phytochemical constituents. These studies exhibit a lot of antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, immunomodulatory, antidiabetic, cardioprotective, neuroprotective and anticancer effects. Modulation of the signalling pathway, such as NF-κB, Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK), Janus Kinase / Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (JAK/STAT), and oxidative stress, is the mechanism involved in such effects. Some clinical studies have demonstrated beneficial effects on some inflammatory markers and glycaemic parameters, as well as symptomatic benefit of some diseases, with an overall positive safety profile in limited clinical studies. However, there remain a number of restrictions for several reasons, firstly due to the variation of the phytochemical constituents of the plants, and lack of standardisation and secondly due to the absence of large-scale trials. Andrographis paniculata demonstrates considerable therapeutic potential across a wide range of disease conditions. Additional standardisation of formulations, advanced analytical techniques and extensive clinical studies are needed to determine its clinical effectiveness and to include it in evidence-based medicine.

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