Alexidine is a TAZ-specific small-molecule inhibitor that suppresses breast cancer invasion and metastasis

Breast cancer (BC) is the most diagnosed malignancy in women and often progresses to distant metastasis. Unfortunately, current treatments inadequately address the clinical needs of metastatic BC (MBC) patients. This highlights the importance of developing effective therapies for MBC patients. One of the Hippo signaling transducers, transcriptional co-activator with PDZ-binding motif (TAZ), plays a major role in BC progression. Since TAZ mostly interacts with TEAD to facilitate its function, targeting TAZ-TEAD interaction may become a treatment approach for MBC patients. To identify inhibitors of TAZ-TEAD binding, we established a sensitive TR-FRET biosensor and performed an ultra-high throughput screen. Alexidine was identified as a TAZ-TEAD binding inhibitor capable of suppressing TAZ-induced migration and invasion in BC cells as well as metastasis in bone-on-a-chip and mouse models. In conclusion, we describe a robust method for screening inhibitors of TAZ-TEAD interaction, contributing to the development of effective cancer treatments.