The chemical structure of the triterpenoid [Ganoderic acid A (GA-A)], and GA-A’s anti-proliferative activity in B-lymphoma cells. (A) GA-A chemical structure. (B) A pre-B acute lymphocytic leukemia line (NALM-6), Burkitt’s lymphoma (Ramos, CA-46 and GA-10), (C) non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (DB and Toledo), (D) B-lymphoblastoid cell lines (6.16.DR4.DM, Frev and Priess), and (E) primary B-cells from lymphoma patients and healthy individuals were treated with GA-A (5–40μM) for 24h, followed by a cell viability assay as described in the methods section. Control cells treated with vehicle alone were utilized to calculate the percent anti-proliferative activity induced by GA-A as indicated. Primary B-cells obtained from lymphoma patients include follicular B-cell lymphoma (TB#2759), diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (TB#2952), and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (TB#3284). These cells were treated with vehicle alone or GA-A, and viable cells were counted using trypan blue dye exclusion. The percent cell viability as compared to control was calculated as described in the methods. The data shown are results of at least three separate experiments performed in triplicate wells. Error bars represent mean ± S.D. Significant differences were indicated as (*p<0.05, **p <0.01), where ns indicates (not significant).