CMPD1 is a microtubule inhibitor with tumor-specific cytotoxicity

Microtubule-targeting agents have been widely used for cancer treatment, yet their cancer specificity is a common challenge. In this study, we identified that CMPD1 as a promising cancer specific inhibitor. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments showed that CMPD1 efficiently inhibits tumor growth. Mechanistically, CMPD1 inhibits microtubule polymerization in mitosis. Collectively, CMPD1 has the high potential to serve as a cancer cell inhibitor. To investigate the impacts of CMPD1 treatment on global gene expression,RNA-seq was performed in non-transformed retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE1) and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells 24 hours after treatment with 10 μM CMPD1.