Research Advance and NMR Studies of Anti-Cancer Small Molecules Targeting c-MYC G4-DNA

Abstract

MYC is a highly expressed oncogene in about 70% of human cancer cells and inhibition of its transcription serves as an effective tumor treatment. The P1 proximal nuclease hypersensitive element (NHE) Ⅲ1 of c-MYC promoter region controls nearly 90% transcriptional activation of MYC gene. This region enriched with base G forms G-quadruplex (G4) structure, which regulates c-MYC gene transcription and is a target of anti-tumor drugs. However, the three-dimensional structures of G4-DNA and G4-RNA are highly similar. Non-specific interactions between small molecules and other G4s, such as telomere G4, mRNA G4, c-Kit G4, etc., yield "off-target" effects. Meanwhile, small molecules can induce the formation of other G4s, thus interfering with the function of normal cells. All of these hinder the design of anti-cancer drugs targeting c-MYC G4. In this paper, we summarize the recent research progress of small molecules targeting tumor factor c-MYC G4-DNA, and the role of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in determining G4-DNA and G4-RNA structure. This review provides a reference for designing drugs targeting c-MYC G4-DNA and other related research works.

Keywords

• tumor gene
• c-myc
• g-quadruplex (g4)
• small molecular drug
• nuclear magnetic resonance (nmr)