Fig. 1

TEPA inhibits the in vivo tumor growth in a syngeneic model of triple-negative breast cancer. a Murine 4T1.2 syngeneic TNBC tumor growth following treatment with vehicle or TEPA (400 mg/kg and 800 mg/kg, daily, oral gavage) for three weeks is shown. Treatment was started once tumors became palpable (50–100 mm³). The mean tumor volume of each treatment group from each mouse is presented (n = 6 mice/group). Two-way ANOVA was followed by Sidak’s post-test for tumor growth analysis. b The survival analysis for murine 4T1.2 syngeneic TNBC tumors following treatment with vehicle or TEPA (800 mg/kg, daily, oral gavage) for three weeks is calculated by the Kaplan–Meier survival analysis. c Copper concentrations in 4T1.2 mice model sera treated with 800 mg/kg TEPA compared to the vehicle controls. Mice were treated with TEPA for three weeks, treatment was withdrawn, and mice were followed for survival until tumors reached 1000 mm³. Down, TEPA reduces lung metastases in 4T1BR metastatic TNBC model in vivo. Murine 4T1BR tumor-bearing mice were treated with vehicle or TEPA (400 mg/kg, daily, oral gavage) for three weeks. At the end of the treatment, lungs were isolated and stained with H&E to analyze tumor metastases. d Tumor growth analysis of murine 4T1BR tumor-bearing mice treated with vehicle or TEPA (400 mg/kg). Two-way ANOVA was followed by Sidak’s post-test for tumor growth analysis (n = 6). e Quantification of the number of metastatic lung nodules in the vehicle and TEPA-treated mice. Unpaired “t” test was performed (n = 6). f Representative images of lung metastasis in 4T1BR tumor model treated with the vehicle or TEPA. The metastatic nodules were stained with H&E. g The protein level of TGF-β in the sera of 4T1BR syngeneic mice treated with TEPA (400 mg/Kg, daily, oral gavage) for 30 days