Fig. 1

WJ460 inhibits breast cancer invasion in vitro. a Chemical structure of thiazolidinone derivative family. b Structure–activity relationship for thiazolidinone derivative analogs and inhibition rate on breast cancer cells (n = 3). c Chemical structure of WJ460. d MDA-MB-231 and BT549 cells were re-suspended in serum-free medium containing increasing concentrations of WJ460 and seeded into each transwell insert precoated with 10% matrigel. After 12 h, invading cells were stained with 0.1% crystal violet. Images were acquired using an inverted microscope (Olympus), with WJ460 dosage noted in upper right of each photomicrograph. WJ460 inhibited MDA-MB-231 and B549 cells invasion with an IC₅₀ of 43.37 ± 3.42 nM and 36.40 ± 4.51 nM, respectively (n = 3). Scale bars, 50 μm. e 3D Matrigel invasion assay. MDA-MB-231 cells were plated above a layer of Matrigel and covered with growth medium containing 10% Matrigel and different concentrations of WJ460 (n = 3). Arrows, stellate invasive structure. Scale bars, 20 μm. f MDA-MB-231 cells were seeded on FITC-gelatin for 12 h. F-actin was stained with phalloidin (red) and nuclei with DAPI (blue). Areas of gelatin degradation appear as punctuate black areas beneath the cells. ***p < 0.001. Scale bars, 10 μm. Student’s t test, n = 3. In b–f, n indicates the number of independent experiments performed