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Cantharidin (CTD), a component of Mylabris (blister beetle), is a traditional Chinese medicine that exerts an anticancer effect in multiple types of cancer cells. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether CTD exhibited anti-metastatic and inhibitory cell proliferation effects against human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) A549 cells, and the possible underlying mechanism by which this occurs. The results of the present study demonstrated that CTD arrested proliferation, suppressed invasion and migration and induced apoptosis in A549 cells in vitro. Alterations of apoptosis-associated protein levels, including B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2), Bcl-associated X (Bax) and active caspase-3, were detected. Furthermore, the present study demonstrated that CTD activated autophagy through downregulation of p62 expression and upregulation of microtubule- associated proteins 1A/1B light chain 3B and Beclin-1 expression. Additionally, western blot analysis identified that CTD inhibited the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/RAC serine/threonine protein kinase (Akt)/mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway in NSCLC, demonstrating that the levels of phosphorylated (p-)Akt, p-mTOR, phosphorylated ribosomal p70S6 protein kinase (p-p70-S6K) and cyclin D1 were significantly decreased following treatment with CTD. In conclusion, the results of the present study indicated that CTD impeded cell growth and migration by inhibiting PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling in NSCLC, and promoted autophagy and apoptosis. CTD exhibited anticancer activity against NSCLC in vitro, revealing it as a potential candidate for the treatment of NSCLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]