4.1.8 Hedyotis Diffusa

4.1.8 Hedyotis Diffusa

Hedyotis diffusa is the dried whole plant of Hedyotis diffusa, a member of the Rubiaceae family. Its taste is sweet and mild, its nature cool, and it has the functions of promoting diuresis and reducing edema, combating inflammation and bacteria, and clearing heat and detoxifying. It contains terpenes, polysaccharides, anthraquinones, sterols, and other chemical components. Pharmacological studies show that Hedyotis diffusa has multiple effects, including anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and immune-enhancing actions, making it widely used in clinical cancer treatment [105]. Gu Xuewen [106] found that Hedyotis diffusa can induce increased expression of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) in H22 liver cancer cells, enhance CD4 and CD8 CTL responses, and promote high expression of P16, thereby achieving active immune killing of tumors and inhibiting cancer cell growth. Hedyotis diffusa may also, to some extent, influence the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax—two opposing regulatory genes—by inducing HSP expression in live H22 liver cancer cells in mice, downregulating the oncogene Bcl-2 and upregulating the tumor-suppressor gene Bax, thus lowering the Bcl-2/Bax ratio and jointly promoting tumor cell apoptosis while inhibiting the occurrence and development of liver cancer [107].