Fig. 1

Differential sensitivity of cancer cells to STS and DXR is associated with enhanced ROS production in triple negative breast cancer cells. a Starvation in combination with 100 nM DXR treatment selectively inhibits cellular proliferation (Hoechst) in MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468 and HS578 cancer cells but not in the near normal MCF-10 cell line. Scale bar: 1 mm. b Starvation in combination with 100 nM DXR treatment selectively increases cell death (PI) in MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468 and HS578 cancer cells but not in the near normal MCF-10 cell line. c Assessment of intracellular ROS production. Data are presented as mean of the fold change ± SD of intracellular ROS production in MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468 and HS578 and MCF-10A cells upon STS, DXR or combined STS + DXR treatment. *P ≤ 0.05. d Assessment of intracellular ROS production. Data are presented as mean of the fold change ± SD in MDA-MB-231 cells treated with STS with or without the MTH1 inhibitor TH1579. *P ≤ 0.05