In Vitro Antitumor and Antimetastatic Activity of a New Lapachol Derivative against Metastatic Breast Carcinoma.

Objective: Breast cancer represents the most prevalent type of tumor throughout the world. Considering the side effects caused by the available treatments, the resistance acquired by cells to cytotoxic agents, and metastasis, it is necessary to search for new sources of antitumor and antimetastatic therapies. Given the numerous antitumor studies involving the synthesis of substances derived from the naphthoquinone lapachol, we investigated the antineoplastic potential of a new synthetic substance (APO-3) derived from lapachol, alone and in combination with the chemotherapeutic agent paclitaxel (PTX), against 4T1 cells, a murine breast cancer cell line.