INVESTIGATION OF THE CYTOTOXIC AND GENOTOXIC EFFECTS OF PAROXETINE ON HUMAN OVARIAN, PROSTATE AND COLON CANCER CELL LINES

Cancer is a major public health problem due to uncontrolled cell proliferation, invasion into surrounding tissues, and its high prevalence and mortality rates. Despite current treatment strategies, the poor prognosis in many cancer types necessitates the exploration of new pharmacological approaches. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of Paroxetine, a potent selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), on human ovarian cancer (A2780), prostate cancer (LNCaP), and colon cancer (Caco-2) cell lines under in vitro conditions. A2780, LNCaP, and Caco-2 cells were cultured in appropriate media and treated for 24 hours with paroxetine at concentrations of 1, 10, 100, and 1000 µM. Cell viability was determined using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, and the inhibitory concentration was calculated using GraphPad Prism 8 software. DNA damage was assessed using the comet assay. Statistical analyses were performed with IBM SPSS Statistics 24.0 (Windows), and p