Breast cancer is the most common malignancy globally, and is considered a major cause of cancer-related death. Tremendous effort is exerted to identify an optimal anticancer drug with limited side effects. The quinoline derivative RIMHS-Qi-23 had a wide-spectrum antiproliferative activity against various types of cancer cells.

In the current study, the effect of RIMHS-Qi-23 was tested on MCF-7 breast cancer cell line to evaluate its anticancer efficacy in comparison to the reference compound doxorubicin.

Our data suggest an anti-proliferative effect of RIMHS-Qi-23 on the MCF-7 cell line with superior potency and selectivity compared to doxorubicin. Our mechanistic study suggested that the anti-proliferative effect of RIMHS-Qi-23 against MCF-7 cell line is not through targeted kinase inhibition but through other molecular machinery targeting cell proliferation and senescence such as cyclophlin A, p62, and LC3.

RIMHS-Qi-23 is exerting an anti-proliferative effect that is more potent and selective than doxorubicin.