With the emergence of drug resistance and the consequential high morbidity and mortality rates, there is an urgent need to screen and identify new agents for the effective treatment of cancer. Terphenyls—a group of aromatic hydrocarbons consisting of a linear 1,4-diaryl-substituted benzene core—has exhibited a wide range of biological activities. In this study, we discovered a terphenyllin derivative—CHNQD-00824—derived from the marine compound library as a potential anticancer agent. The cytotoxic activities of the CHNQD-00824 compound were evaluated against 13 different cell lines with IC50 values from 0.16 to 7.64 μM. Further study showed that CHNQD-00824 inhibited the proliferation and migration of cancer cells, possibly by inducing DNA damage. Acridine orange staining demonstrated that CHNQD-00824 promoted apoptosis in zebrafish embryos. Notably, the anti-cancer effectiveness was verified in a doxycin hydrochloride (DOX)-induced liver-specific enlargement model in zebrafish. With Solafinib as a positive control, CHNQD-00824 markedly suppressed tumor growth at concentrations of 2.5 and 5 μM, further highlighting its potential as an effective anticancer agent.
