Identification and characterization of new DNA G-quadruplex binders selected by a combination of ligand and structure-based virtual screening approaches
Overview of Alcaro S et al.
Authors | Alcaro S  Musetti C  Distinto S  Casatti M  Zagotto G  Artese A  Parrotta L  Moraca F  Costa G  Ortuso F  Maccioni E  Sissi C   |
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Affiliation | Dipartimento di Scienze della Salute   Università di Catanzaro   Campus Salvatore Venuta   Viale Europa   88100 Catanzaro   Italy.   |
Journal | J Med Chem |
Year | 2013 |
Abstract
Nowadays, it has been demonstrated that DNA G-quadruplex arrangements are involved in cellular aging and cancer, thus boosting the discovery of selective binders for these DNA secondary structures. By taking advantage of available structural and biological information on these structures, we performed a high throughput in silico screening of commercially available molecules databases by merging ligand- and structure-based approaches by means of docking experiments. Compounds selected by the virtual screening procedure were then tested for their ability to interact with the human telomeric G-quadruplex folding by circular dichroism, fluorescence spectroscopy, and photodynamic techniques. Interestingly, our screening succeeded in retrieving a new promising scaffold for G-quadruplex binders characterized by a psoralen moiety.