Tripolinolate A (TLA) is recently identified as a new compound from a halophyte plant Tripolium vulgare and has been shown to have significant in vitro activity against the proliferation of colorectal cancer and glioma cells.This study was designed to further investigate the effects of TLA on the proliferation of human normal cells,and the apoptosis and cell cycle in colorectal cancer cells,and the growth of tumors in the colorectal cancer-bearing animals.The data obtained from this study demonstrated that:1) TLA had much less cytotoxicity in the human normal cells than the colorectal cancer cells;2) TLA remarkably induced apoptosis in the human coloreetal cancer cells and blocked cell cycle at G2/M phase,and 3) TLA had significant anti-colorectal cancer activity in the tumor-bearing animals.