Sinomenine, a morphinane-type isoquinoline-derived alkaloid, was first isolated from stems and roots of
Sinomenium diversifolius
(Miq.) in 1920. Later discovery by researchers confirmed various essential biological efficacy sinomenine exerted
in vitro
and
in vivo
. In this study, a series of 15 sinomenine/furoxan hybrid compounds were designed and synthesised in search of a TNBC drug candidate. Some of the target compounds exhibited strong antiproliferative activities against cancer cell lines, especially for TNBC cells, compared to positive controls. Among them, hybrid
7Cc
exerted superior cytotoxic effects on cancer cell lines with exceptionally low IC
50
(0.82 μM) against MDA-MB-231 cells with the highest safety index score. Further studies in mechanism displayed that
7Cc
could induce an S phase cell cycle arrest, stimulate apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells, disrupt mitochondrial membrane potential and exert a genotoxic effect on DNA in cancer cells. In addition,
7Cc
also notably inhibited MDA-MB-231 cells in both migration, invasion and adhesion.
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