A SPECTROSCOPIC STUDY ON THE DNA BINDING BEHAVIOR OF THE ANTICANCER DRUG DACARBAZINE

Abstract

ABSTRACT The selective binding of some drug to DNA has been explored in this study to elucidate the structure-function relationship of the anticancer agent. In the case of the binding behavior of the anticancer drug dacarbazine [5-(3,3-dimethy-1-triazenyl)imidazole-4-carboxamide; DTIC], it was found that DNA causes significant decrease of the absorption intensity of DTIC without any shift of the peak position. Besides, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) study shows that only slight upfield shift was observed upon addition of DNA. These results as well as our nanostructural study by atomic force microscopy (AFM) illustrate the DNA recognition specificity of DTIC though this anticancer drug interacts with DNA by using non-intercalation mode. Keywords: DacarbazineDNA recognitionSpectroscopic study ACKNOWLEDGMENT The support of Chinese Education Foundation for Excellent Young Teachers and the Science & Technology Foundation of Jiangsu province (BJ 99011 & BK 2001401) is greatly appreciated.