In the early 2000s, the Sigma Receptor (SR) family was identified as potential "druggable" target in cancer treatment. Indeed, high density of SRs was found in breast, lung, and prostate cancer cells, supporting the idea that SRs could play a role in tumor growth and progression. Moreover, a link between the degree of SR expression and tumor aggressiveness has been postulated, justified by the presence of SRs in high metastatic-potential cancer cells. As a consequence, considerable efforts have been devoted to the development of small molecules endowed with good affinity towards the two SR subtypes (S1R and S2R) with potential anticancer activity. Herein we report the synthesis and biological profile of aryl-alkyl(alkenyl)-4-benzylpiperidine derivatives-as novel potential anticancer drugs targeting SR. Among them, 3 (RC-106) exhibited a preclinical profile of antitumor efficacy on a panel of cell lines representative of different cancer types (i.e. Paca3, MDA-MB 231) expressing both SRs, and emerged as a hit compound of a new class of SRs modulators potentially useful for the treatment of cancer disease. Keywords Sigma Receptor (SR); pan-SR modulators; compound 3 (RC-106); S1R agonist/antagonist profile; potential anticancer property; apoptotic pathway. Recent studies describe how S2R ligands trigger a cell response which inhibit the activity of the P-glycoprotein, responsible for the active extrusion of anticancer drugs, leading to cell death. [17,18]. Moreover, the hypothesis of a correlation between S2R and Progesterone Receptor Membrane Component 1 (PGRMC1) [19,20] supports the idea that S2R may exert a critical role in tumorigenesis [18]. Indeed, the over-expression of PGRMC1 has been associated to tumor stage and to actively proliferating and invasive cancer cells [21]. It is also relevant that proliferating breast carcinoma cells express S2R up to ten times more than quiescent cells, and the degree of S2R expression has been correlated with tumor staging and grading [22-24]. The highest level of S2R has been detected in pancreatic cancer cell lines (Panc-02, Panc-01, CFPAC-1, AsPC-1) [25]. A recent study, carried out on mouse breast cancer (EMT-6) and human melanoma (MDA-MB-435) cell lines, demonstrate that siramesine (Fig. 1), a S2R selective ligand commonly used as reference compound, can induce cell death (with an EC 50 in both cell lines lower than 10 µM) by three different mechanisms: caspase activation, autophagy, and impaired cell-cycle progression [26]. In the same work, it has been also demonstrated that other S2R ligands, i.e. SV119, WC-26 and RHM-138 (Fig. 1), possess a cytotoxic