Breast cancer exhibits high lethality in women because it is frequently detected at an advanced stage and aggressive forms such as
triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), which are often characterized by
metastasis through colonization of secondary
tumors. Thus, developing therapeutic agents that target the metastatic process is crucial to successfully treat aggressive
breast cancer. We evaluated
SP-8356, an anti-inflammatory synthetic
verbenone derivative, with respect to its regulation of
breast cancer cell behavior and
cancer progression. Treatment of
SP-8356 arrested cell cycle and reduced growth in various types of
breast cancer cells with mild cytotoxicity. Particularly,
SP-8356 significantly reduced the motility and invasiveness of TNBC cells. Assays using an in vivo xenograft mouse model confirmed the cell-specific anti-proliferative and anti-metastatic activity of
SP-8356. Functional studies revealed that
SP-8356 suppressed serum response element-dependent reporter gene expression and NF-κB-related signaling, resulting in downregulation of many genes related to
cancer invasion. We conclude that
SP-8356 suppresses
breast cancer progression through multimodal functions, including inhibition of NF-κB signaling and growth-related signaling pathways.