Hemidesmus indicus, ext.

Anticancer Research

H. indicus, also popularly known as “Anantmul,” is a semierect shrub belonging tothe family Asclepiadaceae. It is widely distributed throughout India and known as “God of Medicine” and is used in a popular drug formulations of the Ayurveda systemof medicine to treat dysentery, diarrhea, skin diseases, syphilis, dyspepsia, leukoderma,diuresis, burning of body, chronic fever, and asthma and is a blood purifier(Austin and Herbals 2008). Pharmacological studies carried out with its extract andpurified compounds indicated that this plant possesses antioxidant, hepatoprotective,antiulcer, antimicrobial, hypoglycemic, antihyperlipidemic, otoprotective,analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory activities (Kainthla et al.2006). Methanolic extracts of H. indicus roots showed a remarkable anticancerpotential against the breast cancer (MCF 7) cell lines (Papiya et al. 2010; Cherkuet al. 2016).