NIR C-Myc Pu22 G-quadruplex probe as a photosensitizer for bioimaging and antitumor study

Authors：Li, Jun-Hui; You, Pei-Dan; Lu, Fei; Tang, Hao-Yun; Guo, Hong-Yan; Zhou, Chun-Qiong^*

Source：Spectrochimica Acta - Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy , 2023, 294: 122533.

DOI：10.1016/j.saa.2023.122533

• Bisquinolinium-squaraine dye conjugate
• C-Myc Pu22 G-quadruplex probe
• Photosensitizer
• NIR imaging
• Chemo-photodynamic antitumor

Despite the fact that C-Myc G-quadruplex in the oncogene promoter regions is one of the crucial targets of antitumor drugs, the selectivities and proliferation inhibitions of its probes towards tumor cells remain a big challenge. Until now, no effective C-Myc G-quadruplex probes have been reported as a photosensitizer to in-crease their antitumor activities. Here, the first NIR C-Myc G-quadruplex probe PDS-SQ has been designed, comprising a G-quadruplex binder PDS and a squaraine dye SQ as a photosensitizer. Conjugate PDS-SQ could selectively NIR image C-Myc Pu22 G-quadruplex in tumor cells, and show stronger antitumor activity in the irradiation by a chemo-photodynamic method than in the dark. The study provides a new way to develop the novel NIR C-Myc G-quadruplex probes with more potent antitumor activities.

• Institution
  南方医科大学