2-(3,5-Dihydroxyphenyl)-6-hydroxybenzothiazole arrests cell growth and cell cycle and induces apoptosis in breast cancer cell lines.

2-Arylbenzothiazoles are an important class of bicyclic privileged substructures present in various natural or synthetic compounds that have been shown to possess anticancer, antifungal, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antiallergic activities. This study examined the antiproliferative properties of 2-(3,5-dihydroxyphenyl)-6-hydroxybenzothiazole (DH) and its molecular mechanism of action in human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells. DH inhibits the growth of MDA-MB-231 cells with an IC(50) value of 25 μM in a dose/time-dependent manner as measured by the microculture tetrazolium method. Cell cycle analysis by flow cytometry showed that DH-induced growth arrest could be associated to apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells.