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Anti-proliferative activity of essential oil from 17 Thai medicinal plants on human mouth epidermal carcinoma (KB) and murine leukemia (P388) cell lines using MTT assay were investigated. An amount of 1!104 cells/well of KB cell line and 1! 105 cells/well of P388 cell line were treated with the oil samples at different concentrations ranging from 0.019 to 4.962 mg/ml. In KB cell line, Guava (Psidium guajava L.) leaf oil showed the highest anti-proliferative activity with the IC50 value of 0.0379 mg/ml (4.37 times more potent than vincristine) whereas Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) oil gave the highest anti-proliferative activity with the IC50 value of 0.0362 mg/ml (12.7 times less potent than 5-FU) in P388 cell line. The results demonstrated the potential of essential oil from Thai medicinal plants for cancer treatment