GENYO, Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research, Pfizer/University of Granada/Andalusian Regional Government, PTS Granada, 18016 Granada, Spain.
Microbiology Unit, University Hospital Virgen de las Nieves, Biosanitary Research Institute IBS, Granada, 18014 Granada, Spain.
Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Nov 24;21(23):8900. doi: 10.3390/ijms21238900.
Non-canonical, four-stranded nucleic acids secondary structures are present within regulatory regions in the human genome and transcriptome. To date, these quadruplex structures include both DNA and RNA G-quadruplexes, formed in guanine-rich sequences, and i-Motifs, found in cytosine-rich sequences, as their counterparts. Quadruplexes have been extensively associated with cancer, playing an important role in telomere maintenance and control of genetic expression of several oncogenes and tumor suppressors. Therefore, quadruplex structures are considered attractive molecular targets for cancer therapeutics with novel mechanisms of action. In this review, we provide a general overview about recent research on the implications of quadruplex structures in cancer, firstly gathering together DNA G-quadruplexes, RNA G-quadruplexes as well as DNA i-Motifs.
非canonical（非常规的），四链核酸二级结构存在于人类基因组和转录组的调控区域。迄今为止，这些四重结构包括富含鸟嘌呤的序列中形成的 DNA 和 RNA G-四链体，以及富含胞嘧啶的序列中发现的 i-Motif。四重结构与癌症广泛相关，在端粒维持和几个癌基因和肿瘤抑制基因的遗传表达控制中发挥重要作用。因此，四重结构被认为是具有新型作用机制的癌症治疗的有吸引力的分子靶标。在这篇综述中，我们首先汇集了 DNA G-四链体、RNA G-四链体以及 DNA i-Motif，提供了关于四重结构在癌症中的意义的最新研究的概述。
