Aim: Recent evidence has indicated that members of natural jasmonates, a family of plant stress hormones, exhibit anticancer activity. The current study was un-dertaken to investigate the effects of jasmonates on the in vitro growth of human neuroblastomas, one of the most common solid tumors in children. Methods: Cellular proliferation was measured by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide colorimetry and colony formation assay. Apoptosis was detected by Hoechst 33258 staining and flow cytometry. Weste blotting was applied to assay gene expression. Results: The administration of natural jasmonates, methyl jasmonate, cis-jasmone, and jasmonic acid to cultured neuro-blastoma cell line SH-SY5Y, resulted in a decrease of cell proliferation in a dose-and time-dependent manner. However, the in vitro growth of cultured human embryonic kidney (HEK) cell line HEK 293 was not affected by jasmonates. The cell cycles ofjasmonate-treated SH-SY5Y cells were arrested at the G2/M phase. The incubation of SH-SY5Y cells with jasmonates resulted in characteristic changes of apoptosis. The anticancer activities of naturaljasmonates on SH-SY5Y cells are as follows: methyl jasmonate>cis-jasmone>jasmonic acid. In addition, the expres-sions of proliferating cell nuclear antigen and N-myc were downregulated by me-thyl jasmonate. Moreover, methyl jasmonate decreased the expression of the X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein and survivin, critical members of inhibitors of the apoptosis protein family, in SH-SY5Y cells. Conclusion: Jasmonates suppress the growth of human neuroblastoma cell line SH-SYSY via inhibiting cell prolifera-tion and inducing apoptosis, which lays the groundwork for further investigation into the anticancer activities and its mechanisms of natural jasmonates on human neuroblastomas.