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Viscum album L. (VAL) is a phytopreparation used in adjuvant cancer therapy with both immunostimulatory and DNA stabilizing properties at low drug concentrations and cytostatic/cytotoxic properties at higher concentrations. The present work examines the cytotoxic effects of VAL extracts produced from mistletoes grown on different host trees and of purified toxic proteins from VAL, such as the d-galactose-speciflc lectin I (ML I), the N-acetyl-d-galactosamine-specific ML II and ML III, and crude viscotoxins towards cultured human lymphocytes. The decrease in the number of cultured lymphocytes and blast cells treated with whole plant extracts from VAL was host tree-specific. Nevertheless, there was no close correlation to the content of MLs or viscotoxins. Using the purified proteins, it became obvious that the cell killing was mediated by the induction of apoptosis, as measured by the appearance of a hypodiploid …