Chalcones are considered the precursors of flavonoids and have been identified as interesting compounds with antitumor properties. Boronic-chalcone derivatives are more toxic to breast cancer cells compared to normal breast cells. Here, we studied the antitumor activities of trans-4-lodo,4'-boranyl-chalcone (TLBC), which is a boronic-chalcone derivative, in several glioma cell lines. TLBC showed a dose-dependent inhibition with inhibitory concentration 50% value in the muM range (5.5-25.5 microM) in various glioma cell lines. Flow cytometric and western blot assay demonstrated that TLBC induced apoptosis independent of changes to the tumor suppressor p53. This cytotoxic effect was the caspase-dependent manner. Also, TLBC lowered levels of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 and/or Bcl-X(L) protein in several of the cell lines. To examine the antitumor effect of TLBC in vivo, we used a malignant glioma xenograft model. This result showed that in the mice treated with TLBC at 20 mg/kg, mean tumor volume was reduced by 43.9% (P < 0.01) in comparison with the control group. Immunohistochemical and western blot analysis showed that Bcl-2 protein levels were decreased and Bax protein levels were slightly increased in the tumors injected with 20 mg/kg TLBC compared with the control tumors. Therefore, we conclude that TLBC may be a potential chemotherapeutic agent for human glioma.