The anthelmintic drug niclosamide induces apoptosis, impairs metastasis and reduces immunosuppressive cells in breast cancer model

Breast carcinoma is the most common female cancer with considerable metastatic potential. Discovery of new therapeutic approaches for treatment of metastatic breast cancer is still needed. Here, we reported our finding with niclosamide, an FDA approved anthelmintic drug. The potency of niclosamide on breast cancer was assessed in vitro and in vivo. In this investigation, we found that niclosamide showed a dramatic growth inhibition against breast cancer cell lines and induced apoptosis of 4T1 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Further, Western blot analysis demonstrated the occurrence of its apoptosis was associated with activation of Cleaved caspases-3, down-regulation of Bcl-2, Mcl-1 and Survivin. Moreover, niclosamide blocked breast cancer cells migration and invasion, and the reduction of phosphorylated STAT3(Tyr705), phosphorylated FAK(Tyr925) and phosphorylated Src(Tyr416) were also observed. Furthermore, in our animal experiments, intraperitoneal administration of 20 mg/kg/d niclosamide suppressed 4T1 tumor growth without detectable toxicity. Histological and immunohistochemical analyses revealed a decrease in Ki67-positive cells, VEGF-positive cells and microvessel density (MVD) and an increase in Cleaved caspase-3-positive cells upon niclosamide. Notably, niclosamide reduced the number of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in tumor tissues and blocked formation of pulmonary metastases. Taken together, these results demonstrated that niclosamide may be a promising candidate for breast cancer.