Potent Antitumor Activity of SB31 and Identification of Active Compound

SB31, an extract of Pulsatilla koreana, has been tried as an antitumor agent by traditional medicine pratitioner in Korea for the past 30 years, SB31 was evaluated for cytotoxic and antitumor activity against a variety of cancer cell lines. The SB31 exhibited 5-6 fold less cytotoxic activity against normal mononuclear cells (ED$\sub$50/. 1.1 mg/$m\ell$) than against cancer cell lines (ED$\sub$50/ 0.14-0.19mg/$m\ell$). (omitted)