Use of sparstolonin B in inhibition of growth and/or viability of human neuroblastoma cells is described. The sparstolonin B can be naturally derived from the Chinese herb Sparganium stoloniferum or can be synthetic. The sparstolonin B is shown to be effective both in vitro and in vivo in inhibition of growth and/or viability of neuroblastoma cells of multiple different genetic backgrounds including N-myc amplified with wild p53 neuroblastoma cells, N-myc amplified with mutated p53 neuroblastoma cells, and N-myc nonamplified neuroblastoma cells.