Chalcone 3d had demonstrated growth inhibition greater than 60% against a variety of cancers: leukemia (MOLT-4, SR), non-small cell lung cancer (NCI-H522), colon cancer (HCT- 116), prostate cancer (DU-145), and breast cancer (MCF7, MDA-MB-468) and was also cytotoxic to three different cell lines (CCRF-CEM, RPMI-8226, and KM12).
The highest antiproliferative activity against leukemia (cell lines K-562 and MOLT-4), non-small cell lung cancer (cell line NCI-H522), colon cancer (cell lines NT29 and SW-620), melanoma (cell lines MALME-3M and UACC-257), ovarian cancer (cell lines IGROV1 and OVCAR-3), renal cancer (cell lines ACHN and UO-31), breast cancer (cell line T-47D) was found for compounds 4-9.
The complex was used to treat two P-glycoprotein-producing MDR cell lines: MCF-7/R human breast cancer cells resistant to doxorubicin and MOLT-3/TMQ800 human ALL cells resistant to trimetrexate (TMQ).