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.