Coralyne chloride is a protoberberine with strong anticancer activity. It can be used to prepare Coralyne derivatives, a fluorescent DNA-based molecular rectifier built into DNA duplexes through site-specific insertion. It acts as a topoisomerase I toxic molecule, inducing topoisomerase I-mediated DNA cleavage.

There is synergism between Coralyne and Paclitaxel on proliferation and migration of breast cancer cell lines. This study also showed that combinational drug treatment decreased the expression of ki-67 and there was an increase in pro apoptotic factor Bax with decreased in expression of anti-apoptotic factor Bcl-2 in breast cancer cell lines with negligible effect on normal breast cell line[2].