Changes in physicochemical and anticancer properties modulated by chemically modified sugar moieties within sequence-related G-quadruplex structures

PLoS One. 2022 Aug 23;17(8):e0273528. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0273528. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

We systematically investigated the influence of locked nucleic acid (LNA), unlock nucleic acid (UNA), and 2'-O-methyl-RNA (2'-O-Me-RNA) residues on the thermal stability, structure folding topology, biological activity and enzymatic resistance of three sequence-related DNA G-quadruplexes. In order to better understand the mechanism of action of the studied modifications, a single-position substitution in the loops or G-tetrads was performed and their influence was analyzed for a total of twenty-seven modified G-quadruplex variants. The studies show that the influence of each modification on the physicochemical properties of G-quadruplexes is position-dependent, due to mutual interactions between G-tetrads, loops, and additional guanosine at 5' or 3' end. Nevertheless, the anticancer activity of the modified G-quadruplexes is determined by their structure, thus also by the local changes of chemical character of sugar moieties, what might influence the specific interactions with therapeutic targets. In general, UNA modifications are efficient modulators of the G-quadruplex thermodynamic stability, however they are poor tools to improve the anticancer properties. In contrast, LNA and 2'-O-Me-RNA modified G-quadruplexes demonstrated certain antiproliferative potential and might be used as molecular tools for designing novel G-quadruplex-based therapeutics.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Carbohydrates
  • G-Quadruplexes*
  • Guanosine
  • Nucleic Acids*
  • RNA
  • Sugars
  • Thermodynamics

Substances

  • Carbohydrates
  • Nucleic Acids
  • Sugars
  • Guanosine
  • RNA

Grants and funding

National Science Center grants (2017/25/B/NZ7/00127 and 2020/37/B/NZ7/02008 to A.P., 2019/35/N/NZ7/02777 to C.R.). https://www.ncn.gov.pl/en The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.