Diphenyleneiodonium efficiently inhibits the characteristics of a cancer stem cell model derived from induced pluripotent stem cells

Diphenyleneiodonium (DPI) has long been evaluated as an anticancer drug inhibiting NADPH oxidase, the IC50 in several cancer cell lines was reported 10 µM, which is too high for efficacy. In this study, we employed miPS‐Huh7cmP cells, which we previously established as a cancer stem cell (CSC) model from induced pluripotent stem cells, to reevaluate the efficacy of DPI because CSCs are currently one of the main foci of therapeutic strategy to treat cancer, but generally considered resistant to chemotherapy. As a result, the conventional assay for the cell growth inhibition by DPI accounted for an IC50 at 712 nM that was not enough to define the effectiveness as an anticancer drug. Simultaneously, the wound‐healing assay revealed an IC50 of approximately 500 nM. Comparatively, the IC50 values shown on sphere formation, colony formation, and tube formation assays were 5.52, 12, and 8.7 nM, respectively. However, these inhibitory effects were not observed by VAS2780, also a reputed NADPH oxidase inhibitor. It is noteworthy that these three assays are evaluating the characteristic of CSCs and are designed in the three‐dimensional (3D) culture methods. We concluded that DPI could be a suitable candidate to target mitochondrial respiration in CSCs. We propose that the 3D culture assays are more efficient to screen anti‐CSC drug candidates and better mimic tumor microenvironment when compared to the adherent monolayer of 2D culture system used for a conventional assay, such as cell growth inhibition and wound‐healing assays. Significance statement Diphenyleneiodonium (DPI) is an NADPH oxidase inhibitor. Here, we revaluate DPI as an anticancer drug by assessing its effect on iPS‐derived cancer stem cell model in both 2D and 3D culture conditions. Our data showed that DPI inhibited the four major characteristics, self‐renewal, differentiation, tumorigenic, and migration potential of the cancer stem cell model, strengthening its position as a potent anticancer drug.