Selectivity of Terpyridine Platinum Anticancer Drugs for G-quadruplex DNA.

Guanine-rich DNA can form four-stranded structures called G-quadruplexes (G4s) that can regulate many biological processes. Metal complexes have shown high affinity and selectivity toward the quadruplex structure. Here, we report the comparison of a panel of platinum (II) complexes for quadruplex DNA selective recognition by exploring the aromatic core around terpyridine derivatives. Their affinity and selectivity towards G4 structures of various topologies have been evaluated by FRET-melting (Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfert-melting) and Fluorescent Intercalator Displacement (FID) assays, the latter performed by using three different fluorescent probes (Thiazole Orange (TO), TO-PRO-3, and PhenDV). Their ability to bind covalently to the c-myc G4 structure in vitro and their cytotoxicity potential in two ovarian cancerous cell lines were established. Our results show that the aromatic surface of the metallic ligands governs, in vitro, their affinity, their selectivity for the G4 over the duplex structures, and platination efficiency. However, the structural modifications do not allow significant discrimination among the different G4 topologies. Moreover, all compounds were tested on ovarian cancer cell lines and normal cell lines and were all able to overcome cisplatin resistance highlighting their interest as new anticancer drugs.

CD45 phosphatase is crucial for human and murine acute myeloid leukemia maintenance through its localization in lipid rafts.

CD45 is a pan-leukocyte protein with tyrosine phosphatase activity involved in the regulation of signal transduction in hematopoiesis. Exploiting CD45 KO mice and lentiviral shRNA, we prove the crucial role that CD45 plays in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) development and maintenance. We discovered that CD45 does not colocalize with lipid rafts on murine and human non-transformed hematopoietic cells. Using a mouse model, we proved that CD45 positioning within lipid rafts is modified during their oncogenic transformation to AML. CD45 colocalized with lipid rafts on AML cells, which contributes to elevated GM-CSF signal intensity involved in proliferation of leukemic cells. We furthermore proved that the GM-CSF/Lyn/Stat3 pathway that contributes to growth of leukemic cells could be profoundly affected, by using a new plasma membrane disrupting agent, which rapidly delocalized CD45 away from lipid rafts. We provide evidence that this mechanism is also effective on human primary AML samples and xenograft transplantation. In conclusion, this study highlights the emerging evidence of the involvement of lipid rafts in oncogenic development of AML and the targeting of CD45 positioning among lipid rafts as a new strategy in the treatment of AML.

Delivery, Effect on Cell Viability, and Plasticity of Modified Aptamer Constructs.

AS1411 is a g-quadruplex-forming aptamer capable of selectively entering cancer cells by nucleolin receptor-mediated uptake. In this study, we investigated the cell internalization properties and plasticity of AS1411 carrying different locked nucleic acid-containing cargo oligonucleotides (ONs) for delivery into A549 and U2OS cells. We found that internalization efficiency is highly governed by ON cargo chemistry and composition since the inherent antitumor properties of AS1411 were lost when attached to a nontoxic ON, noTox. However, a toxic ON, Tox, demonstrated potent cytotoxicity after aptamer-mediated uptake in A549 cells. We also examined the effect of unlocked nucleic acid (UNA) modifications in the loop region of the aptamer, and how the cargo ONs and UNA incorporation affect the secondary structure of AS1411, in the presence or absence of two novel ellipticine derivatives. These findings add new insights to the design and future applications of aptamer-guided delivery of ON cargo to cancer cells.