Genotoxicity and Epigenotoxicity of Carbazole-Derived Molecules on MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells

The carbazole compounds PK9320 (1-(9-ethyl-7-(furan-2-yl)-9H-carbazol-3-yl)-N-methylmethanamine) and PK9323 (1-(9-ethyl-7-(thiazol-4-yl)-9H-carbazol-3-yl)-N-methylmethanamine), second-generation analogues of PK083 (1-(9-ethyl-9H-carbazol-3-yl)-N-methylmethanamine), restore p53 signaling in Y220C p53-mutated cancer cells by binding to a mutation-induced surface crevice and acting as molecular chaperones. In the present paper, these three molecules have been tested for mutant p53-independent genotoxic and epigenomic effects on wild-type p53 MCF-7 breast adenocarcinoma cells, employing a combination of Western blot for phospho-γH2AX histone, Comet assay and methylation-sensitive arbitrarily pr…