XVI International Botanical Congess

Epidemiological studies indicate that high intake of fruits and vegetables are associated with a reduced risk of cancer, and several plant-derived drugs are developed in medical oncology. Since only a small part of the flora has been tested for any kind of bioactivity, we chose small fruits as sources of differentiation-inducing activity against leukemic cells, as well as antiproliferative activity toward several cancer cell lines. We have prepared 43 juices from various small fruits, which are mainly growing in northern part of Japan. Juices of Vaccinium smallii, Sorbus sambucifolia, Rosa rugosa, Actinidia polygama demonstrated differentiation-inducing and antiproliferative activities with low cytotoxicity toward normal human cell lines.