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G-Quadruplexes Induce Apoptosis in Tumor Cells

¹ Department of Pharmacology, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, New Jersey and ² The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey

Requests for reprints: Haiyan Qi, Department of Pharmacology, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 675 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854. Phone: 732-235-5483; Fax: 732-235-4073; E-mail: qiha{at}umdnj.edu.

Several G-rich oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs), which are capable of forming G-quadruplexes, have been shown to exhibit antiproliferative activity against tumor cell lines and antitumor activity in nude mice carrying prostate and breast tumor xenografts. However, the molecular basis for their antitumor activity remains unclear. In the current study, we showed that a variety of telomeric G-tail oligodeoxynucleotides (TG-ODNs) exhibited antiproliferative activity against many tumor cells in culture. Systematic mutational analysis of the TG-ODNs suggests that the antiproliferative activity depends on the G-quadruplex conformation of these TG-ODNs. TG-ODNs were also shown to induce poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 cleavage, phosphatidylserine flipping, and caspase activation, indicative of induction of apoptosis. TG-ODN–induced apoptosis was largely ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) dependent. Furthermore, TG-ODN–induced apoptosis was inhibited by the c-Jun NH₂-terminal kinase (JNK) inhibitor SP600125. Indeed, TG-ODNs were shown to activate the JNK pathway in an ATM-dependent manner as evidenced by elevated phosphorylation of JNK and c-Jun. Interestingly, a number of G-quadruplex ODNs (GQ-ODN) derived from nontelomeric sequences also induced ATM/JNK-dependent apoptosis, suggesting a possible common mechanism of tumor cell killing by GQ-ODNs. (Cancer Res 2006; 66(24): 11808-16)

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