The anti-tumor activities of coenzyme Q0 through ROS-mediated autophagic cell death in human triple-negative breast cells

•Coenzyme Q0 (CoQ0) inhibits proliferation and colony formation in MDA-MB-468 and 231 cells.•CoQ0 induced apoptosis associated with caspase-3 activation and PARP cleavage.•CoQ0 induced autophagic cell death is accompanied by LC3-II accumulation and AVO formation.•Apoptosis inhibition suppresses CoQ0-induced autophagy and autophagy inhibition suppresses CoQ0-induced apoptosis.•Antioxidant NAC prevents CoQ0-induced apoptosis and autophagy.