Objective:To observe the effect of the artesunate（ART） on cellular proliferation in vitro

to search for the possible anti-tumor mechanism of ART on endometrial carcinoma at the molecular level and to provide the experimental and theoretical foundations for the clinical applications of ART.Methods:The cell proliferation was observed by microscope;MTT was used to examine the effects of ART on proliferation of HEC-1B cells

and flow cytometric analysis was used to detect cell cycle and apoptosis.The human endometrial carcinoma HEC-1B cells were conventionally cultured;ART was administered with a concentration of 40 μg/ml before the total RNA were extracted.mRNA expression of Survivin

Caspase-3

N-Cadherin

E-Cadherin

Fibronectin1 and Cox-2 were detected using RT-PCR.Results:ART reduced proliferation in human endometrial carcinoma cell line HEC-1B in a dose-and time-dependent effect.The cells of G0/G1 stage were significantly increased（P<0.05）

but the cells of G2/M stages were significantly decreased（P<0.05）

so it has shown that the cell cycle was probably blocked in G0/G1 stage.After intervention with ART at 20 and 80 μg/ml for 48 h

cellular apoptosis rate respectively was（36.42±0.77）% and（11.77±0.58）%

and the difference was statistically significant compared with the control（[6.64±0.19]%

P<0.01）.The expression of Cox-2 mRNA in the ART group was lower than those of control group

yet the expression of Caspase-3 and E-Cadherin mRNA in the ART group was higher than those of control group.Conclusion:ART can inhibit HEC-1B cell growth and proliferation in a dose-and time-dependent manner.Furthermore

ART can induce apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner.ART is able to downregulate Cox-2 mRNA expression and to upregulate E-Cadherin and Caspase-3 mRNA expression.So we can conclude that ART could induce the endometrial carcinoma HEC-1B cell apoptosis and inhibit tumor cell proliferation.