Chen Yuyuan, Morihiro Kunihiko, Nemoto Yui, Ichimura Akito, Ueki Ryosuke, Sando Shinsuke, Okamoto Akimitsu
Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo 7-3-1 Hongo Bunkyo-ku Tokyo 113-8656 Japan
Chem Sci. 2024 Sep 24;15(41):17097-102. doi: 10.1039/d4sc04424j.
Because of the extracellular acidic microenvironment of cancer cells, many pH-responsive molecules have become indispensable materials for bioanalysis and targeted therapy development. pH-Responsive DNA aptamers, which selectively bind to target proteins in cancer cells, have become a key research target in the therapeutic field. However, conventional pH-responsive aptamers have fatal drawbacks, such as complex structures, sequence limitation, and difficulties in mass production, as they require special nucleic acid structures, including the i-motif and DNA triplex. To address these issues, we utilized An, which is an unnatural nucleobase with a p of 5.9, to construct a simple pH-responsive DNA aptamer (CSL1-II) for selective binding to the c-Met protein expressed in cancer cells. CSL1-II in a weakly acidic environment had a stronger inhibitory effect on the HGF/c-Met pathway and exerted a strong controlling effect on the spreading and migration of cancer cells. Our strategy provides a simple and versatile method to develop pH-responsive DNA aptamers and represents the first example of a cancer-selective c-Met antagonist that inhibits cell migration.
由于癌细胞的细胞外酸性微环境,许多pH响应分子已成为生物分析和靶向治疗开发中不可或缺的材料。能够选择性结合癌细胞中靶蛋白的pH响应性DNA适体已成为治疗领域的关键研究靶点。然而,传统的pH响应性适体存在致命缺陷,如结构复杂、序列受限以及大规模生产困难,因为它们需要特殊的核酸结构,包括i-基序和DNA三链体。为了解决这些问题,我们利用pKa为5.9的非天然核碱基An构建了一种简单的pH响应性DNA适体(CSL1-II),用于选择性结合癌细胞中表达的c-Met蛋白。在弱酸性环境中的CSL1-II对HGF/c-Met通路具有更强的抑制作用,并对癌细胞的扩散和迁移发挥强大的控制作用。我们的策略提供了一种简单且通用的方法来开发pH响应性DNA适体,并且代表了抑制细胞迁移的癌症选择性c-Met拮抗剂的首个实例。