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p53, the major tumor suppressor, is frequently mutated in many cancers, and up to 84% of human melanomas harbor wild-type p53, which is considered to be an ideal target for melanoma therapy. Here, we evaluated the antitumor activity of a carbazole derivative, 9-ethyl-9H-carbazole-3-carbaldehyde (ECCA), on melanoma cells. ECCA had a selectively strong inhibitory activity against the growth of BRAF-mutated and BRAF-wild-type melanoma cells but had little effect on normal human primary melanocytes. ECCA inhibited melanoma cell growth by increasing cell apoptosis, which was associated with the upregulation of caspase activities and was significantly abrogated by the addition of a caspase inhibitor. In vivo assays confirmed that ECCA suppressed melanoma growth by enhancing cell apoptosis and reducing cell proliferation, and importantly ECCA did not have any evident toxic effects on normal tissues. RNA-Seq analysis identified several pathways related to cell apoptosis that were affected by ECCA, notably, activation of the p53 signaling pathway. Biochemical assays demonstrated that ECCA enhanced the phosphorylation of p53 at Ser15 in melanoma cells harboring wild-type p53, and importantly, the knockdown or deletion of p53 in those cells counteracted the ECCA-induced apoptosis, as well as senescence. Further investigations revealed that ECCA enhanced the phosphorylation of p38-MAPK and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and treatment with either a p38-MAPK or a JNK inhibitor rescued the cell growth inhibition elicited by ECCA, which depended on the expression of the p53 gene. Finally, the combination of ECCA with a BRAF inhibitor significantly enhanced the growth inhibition of melanoma cells. In summary, our study demonstrates that the carbazole derivative, ECCA, induces melanoma cell apoptosis and senescence through the activation of p53 to significantly and selectively suppress the growth of melanoma cells without affecting normal human melanocytes, suggesting its potential to develop a new drug for melanoma therapy.

A carbazole compound, 9-ethyl-9H-carbazole-3-carbaldehyde, plays an antitumor function through reactivation of the p53 pathway in human melanoma cells