Isolation of anti-leukemia compounds from Citrus reticulata

In vitro effects of medicinal plant extracts from the pericarpium of Citrus reticulata (cv Jiao Gan) (PCRJ) on the growth and differentiation of a recently characterized murine myeloid leukemic cell clone WEHI 3B (JCS) were investigated. Extracts of PCRJ not only inhibited the proliferation of JCS cells in a dose dependent manner, but also induced differentiation of JCS cells into macrophages and granulocytes. Morphological differentiation of PCRJ treated JCS cells was associated with an increase in phagocytic activity of the cells. Furthermore, both in vitro clonogenicity and in vivo growth of PCRJ treated JCS leukemic cells in syngeneic BALB/c mice were significantly reduced. The survival rate of mice receiving PCRJ treated JCS tumour cells was also increased. Using 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, and GC/MS, two active components isolated from PCRJ were identified as nobiletin and tangeretin.