School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shenzhen University Health Science Center, Shenzhen, 518060, China.
School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shenzhen University Health Science Center, Shenzhen, 518060, China.
Eur J Med Chem. 2020 Jan 15;186:111891. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2019.111891. Epub 2019 Nov 15.
In 10-15% of cancers, telomere maintenance is provided by a telomerase-independent mechanism known as alternative lengthening of telomere (ALT), making telomerase inhibitors ineffective on these cancers. Ligands that stabilize telomeric G-quadruplex (G4) are considered to be able to inhibit either the ALT process or disrupt the T-loop structure, which would be promising therapeutic agents for ALT cancers. Notably, the 3'-terminal overhang of telomeric DNA might fold into multimeric G4 containing consecutive G4 subunits, which offers an attractive target for selective ligands considering large numbers of G4s widespread in the genome. In this study, a dimeric aryl-substituted imidazole (DIZ-3) was developed as a selective multimeric G4 ligand based on a G4-ligand-dimerizing strategy. Biophysical experiments revealed that DIZ-3 intercalated into the G4-G4 interface, stabilizing the higher-order structure. Furthermore, this ligand was demonstrated to induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, and thus inhibited cell proliferation in an ALT cancer cell line. Cancer cells were more sensitive to DIZ-3, relative to normal cells. Notably, DIZ-3 had little effect on the transcription of several G4-dependent oncogenes. This study provides a nice example for discovering dimeric agents to potentially treat ALT cancers via targeting telomeric multimeric G4.
在 10-15%的癌症中,端粒维持是通过一种非端粒酶依赖的机制提供的,称为端粒的非酶延长(ALT),这使得端粒酶抑制剂对这些癌症无效。稳定端粒 G-四链体(G4)的配体被认为能够抑制 ALT 过程或破坏 T 环结构,这将是 ALT 癌症有前途的治疗剂。值得注意的是,端粒 DNA 的 3'-末端突出可能折叠成含有连续 G4 亚基的多聚 G4,这为选择性配体提供了一个有吸引力的靶标,因为基因组中广泛存在大量的 G4。在这项研究中,基于 G4-配体二聚化策略,开发了一种二芳基取代咪唑(DIZ-3)作为选择性多聚 G4 配体。生物物理实验表明,DIZ-3 插入 G4-G4 界面,稳定了高级结构。此外,该配体被证明诱导细胞周期停滞和细胞凋亡,从而抑制 ALT 癌细胞系的细胞增殖。与正常细胞相比,癌细胞对 DIZ-3 更敏感。值得注意的是,DIZ-3 对几种依赖 G4 的癌基因的转录几乎没有影响。这项研究为通过靶向端粒多聚 G4 发现潜在治疗 ALT 癌症的二聚体药物提供了一个很好的例子。
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