Millard J T, White M M
Department of Chemistry, Colby College, Waterville, Maine 04901.
Biochemistry. 1993 Mar 2;32(8):2120-4. doi: 10.1021/bi00059a034.
Epoxides are cancer-causing agents chemically analogous to the nitrogen mustards, a family of powerful antitumor drugs. We found that the DNA interstrand cross-linking sequence preference of diepoxybutane is the same as that of the mustard mechlorethamine: 5'-GNC. Therefore, the genomic site of cross-linking alone cannot explain why some interstrand cross-linkers act as antitumor agents whereas others are deadly toxins.
