The mangosteen fruit has been used for medicinal purposes in parts of Southeast Asia, and contains xanthones that possess a variety of biological activity including antioxidant, anticancer, antibacterial and antiviral properties. α-mangostin is found in the skin of the mangosteen fruit, and its ability to induce apoptosis in cancer cell lines has drawn attention from the cancer research community. This paper by Lee et al. focuses specifically on oral cancer, and α-mangostin's anticancer mechanism of action. They found a variety of apoptotic behavior including DNA fragmentation, shrinking of the cytoplasm, increased expression of pro-apoptotic factors and decrease in anti-apoptotic factors, and caspase activation.

Read more here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4790674/