Prior to the availability of chemotherapeutic agents, dietary measures, including traditional medicines derived from plants, were the major forms of cancer treatment1. One such plant is M. charantia (Family: Cucurbitaceae), whose fruit is known as Karela or bitter gourd. M. charantia is believed to posses anti-carcinogenic properties and it can modulate its effect via xenobiotic metabolism and oxidative stress 2, 3. This study characterizes one of the active ingredients of M. charantia and investigates its potential chemotherapeutic effect in glioma cancer therapy. The fruit was washed and cut in to small pieces, liquidised in deionised water using a blender and subsequently, dried using a rota evaporator and an oven. Four different glioma cell lines (1321N1, GOS-3, U87-MG, and WERI-Rb1) and normal L6 skeletal muscle cell line were treated with different concentrations (100 µM, 200 µM, 300 µM, 400 µM) of the crude fruit extract separately for 24 hours using 2500 cells in each 200 µl 96 well plates. In another series of experiment, the crude extract of M. Charantia was used to isolate α and β Momocharin ingredient employing HPLC techniques. The isolated active protein ingredient was subsequently tested in all five cell lines including normal L6 skeletal muscle cells employing different concentrations (200 µM – 800 µM). The cell viability was measured using MTT assay kit for every 8 hrs, 16 hrs and 24 hrs. Initial results have shown that either the crude extract of M. charantia or α and β Momocharin can evoke a significant (p<0.05; Student‘s-t-test) decrease in cell viability for each cell line compared to untreated cells of each cancer cell line. Typically, 800 µM of α and β Momocharin evoked cell death of 40.94 %, 44.39 %, 37.26 % and 57.67 % for 1321N1, GOS-3, U87-MG, WERI-Rb1 cell lines, respectively compared to control (100 %) untreated cells. In contrast, either the crude extract or α and β Momocharin had no significant effect on control L6 skeletal muscle cell line compared to untreated cells. These effects of crude extract and α and β Momocharin were dose-dependent. In conclusion, the results have shown that both the crude extract and α and β Momocharin can elicit marked anti-cancer effects in different glioma cell lines.