The aim of this study was to explore the anti-tumor potential of a polysaccharide isolated from Boschniakia rossica (BRP) in Hep2 human larynx squamous carcinoma cells. High performance size-exclusion chromatography analysis showed that BRP was a homogeneous polysaccharide and had a molecular weight of 22kDa. BRP suppressed the proliferation of Hep2 cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Cell cycle analysis revealed that exposure to BRP (200μg/ml) caused a G0/G1 cell cycle arrest in Hep2 cells. Moreover, treatment with BRP at 100-400μg/ml for 24h induced a significant apoptosis compared to untreated control cells. BRP treatment promoted the cleavage of pro-caspase-3, pro-caspase-8, and pro-caspase-9, coupled with increased expression of death receptor DR5 and Bax and reduced expression of Bcl-2. Taken together, our data demonstrate that BRP shows potent anti-tumor activity in human larynx squamous carcinoma, largely through induction of G0/G1 cell cycle arrest and apoptosis