“…Isosteviol has been reported to be a suppressor of human DNA topoisomerase II [ 18 ] and of mammalian DNA polymerases, thus explaining its antitumor activity [ 19 , 20 ]. Parent stevioside was reported to have minor cytotoxic effects on several human cancer cell lines, thereby inducing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in the G 2 /M phase [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ]. Since previous work also indicated an effect on mitochondrial permeability transition [ 35 ], it was natural to transfer our own previous findings on pentacyclic triterpenes to the diterpene isosteviol.…”