Figure 1.
Effect of primaquine on breast cancer hallmarks and on tumor growth in a nude mouse model. (A) Molecular structure of primaquine phosphate. (B) The proliferation of breast cancer cells was measured using an MTS assay kit and the CellTiter 96 Aqueous One Solution kit. Breast cancer cells were incubated in 96-well plates in the presence of primaquine (5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 100, 120, and 150 μM and DMSO). Values are the mean ± standard deviation (SD) of 3 independent experiments. * indicates p < 0.05 vs. control. (C) Effect of primaquine on the migratory ability of breast cancer. The migration of MDA-MB-231 cancer cells with/without primaquine was photographed at 0 and 18 h. (D) Effect of primaquine on the colony formation of breast cancer cells. Two thousand MDA-MB-231 cells were cultured in 6-well plates with/without primaquine at the indicated concentrations for one week. Representative image of colonies. Values are mean ± SD of 3 independent experiments. * indicates p < 0.05 vs. control. (E) The effect of primaquine on tumor growth in a xenograft mouse model. A total of 2 × 106 cancer cells were injected into the mammary fat pad of each nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficiency (NOD/SCID) female nude mouse. Effect of tumor growth on primaquine and MDA-MB-231 cell-bearing immunodeficient nude mice. The dose of drug used was 2 mg/kg once every 10 days. Tumor volume was measured once every 10 days using a caliper and calculated as (width2 × length)/2. Tumor growth curves were monitored during the experimental period.