Skip Navigation


Nucleic Acids Research Advance Access originally published online on May 5, 2007
Nucleic Acids Research 2007 35(11):3581-3589; doi:10.1093/nar/gkm285
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow Print PDF (702K) Freely available
Right arrow Screen PDF (223K) Freely available
Right arrowOA All Versions of this Article:
35/11/3581    most recent
gkm285v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Commercial Re-use Guidelines
for Open Access NAR Content
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Evison, B. J.
Right arrow Articles by Cutts, S. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Evison, B. J.
Right arrow Articles by Cutts, S. M.
Social Bookmarking
 Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Nucleic Acids Research, 2007, Vol. 35, No. 11 3581-3589
© 2007 The Author(s)
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


Chemistry

Pixantrone can be activated by formaldehyde to generate a potent DNA adduct forming agent

Ben J. Evison1, Oula C. Mansour1, Ernesto Menta2, Don R. Phillips1 and Suzanne M. Cutts1,*

1Department of Biochemistry, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3086, Australia and 2Cell Therapeutics Europe, I-20091 Bresso, Italy

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +61 03 9479 1517; Fax: +61 03 9479 2467; Email: s.cutts{at}latrobe.edu.au

Received December 28, 2006. Revised March 23, 2007. Accepted April 11, 2007.

Mitoxantrone is an anti-cancer agent used in the treatment of breast and prostate cancers. It is classified as a topoisomerase II poison, however can also be activated by formaldehyde to generate drug–DNA adducts. Despite identification of this novel form of mitoxantrone–DNA interaction, excessively high, biologically irrelevant drug concentrations are necessary to generate adducts. A search for mitoxantrone analogues that could potentially undergo this reaction with DNA more efficiently identified Pixantrone as an ideal candidate. An in vitro crosslinking assay demonstrated that Pixantrone is efficiently activated by formaldehyde to generate covalent drug–DNA adducts capable of stabilizing double-stranded DNA in denaturing conditions. Pixantrone–DNA adduct formation is both concentration and time dependent and the reaction exhibits an absolute requirement for formaldehyde. In a direct comparison with mitoxantrone–DNA adduct formation, Pixantrone exhibited a 10- to 100-fold greater propensity to generate adducts at equimolar formaldehyde and drug concentrations. Pixantrone–DNA adducts are thermally and temporally labile, yet they exhibit a greater thermal midpoint temperature and an extended half-life at 37°C when compared to mitoxantrone–DNA adducts. Unlike mitoxantrone, this enhanced stability, coupled with a greater propensity to form covalent drug–DNA adducts, may endow formaldehyde-activated Pixantrone with the attributes required for Pixantrone–DNA adducts to be biologically active.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
Nucleic Acids ResHome page
B. J. Evison, R. A. Bilardi, F. C. K. Chiu, G. Pezzoni, D. R. Phillips, and S. M. Cutts
CpG methylation potentiates pixantrone and doxorubicin-induced DNA damage and is a marker of drug sensitivity
Nucleic Acids Res., October 1, 2009; 37(19): 6355 - 6370.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Mol. Pharmacol.Home page
B. J. Evison, F. Chiu, G. Pezzoni, D. R. Phillips, and S. M. Cutts
Formaldehyde-Activated Pixantrone Is a Monofunctional DNA Alkylator That Binds Selectively to CpG and CpA Doublets
Mol. Pharmacol., July 1, 2008; 74(1): 184 - 194.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]



Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.