Fig. 1

Mebendazole (MBZ) inhibits the proliferation of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells. A The half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) of MBZ in MMTV-PYMT, MDA-MB-231, 4T1, and SUM159 cells is plotted with standard error (SE) represented by bars. B MDA-MB-231, 4T1, and SUM159 cells were pre-treated for 48 h with MBZ at varying concentrations and allowed to recover for 10–14 days in growth media. Colonies were stained with crystal violet and quantified to determine the percentage area of the well covered by crystal violet (% recovered). Mean ± SEM; N = 3 independent experiments. P values for one-way ANOVA test *< 0.05, **< 0.01, ***< 0.001,****< 0.0001. C Representative images of colony formation described in (B). D MDA-MB-231, 4T1, and SUM159 cells were seeded at 1000 cells/well in a 96-well plate for 24 h, treated with various concentrations of MBZ for 48 h, and stained with DAPI. The % DAPI area (see Additional file 2: Fig. S1C) was quantified and presented as % survival. Mean ± SEM; N = 3 independent experiments with n = 4 technical replicates. P values for one-way ANOVA test *< 0.05, **< 0.01,***< 0.001