Breast cancer is one of the most common
tumors in females. The therapeutic resistance of
breast cancer has motivated the development of new agents for prevention and treatment. For the present study, several compounds were designed and analyzed for their antitumor activity in many
cancer cell lines. 4-(3,4,5-Trimethoxyphenoxy)
benzoic acid (compound 1) and its derivatives were selected for studying the anti-proliferative and cytotoxic effects on five human
cancer cell lines. Results indicated that compounds 1 and 2 significantly suppressed the cell viability of MCF-7 and MDA-MB-468
cancer cells. However, compounds 1 and 2 had only minor effects on HepG2, Huh-7, and Hela cells. Moreover, compounds 1 and 2 exhibited a novel anti-
tumor activity through the induction of cell-cycle arrest at G2/M and apoptosis in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-486
breast cancer cells. Both compounds reduced colony-forming ability in MCF-7 cells. Flow cytometric analysis indicated that
caspase-3 activity was increased in response to treatment with compounds 1 and 2. Taken together, these findings suggest that the novel compounds 1 and 2 are potential
anticancer agents with clinical promise for
breast cancer therapy.