Norharman and ellipticine: a comparison of their albilities to interact with DNA in vitro

Cancer Letters
J AshbyJ A Styles

Abstract

The anti-tumor agent ellipticine has been compared in vitro with the bacterial co-mutagen norharman, a compound which it resembles superfically in chemical structure. Ellipticine was shown to stabilize the structure of double stranded calf-thymus DNA, to induce mutations in strain TA153 of Salmonella tryhimurium and to cause BHK cells to transform. Further, the major absorbance in its visible spectrum underwent a red shift of approximately 40 nm in the presence of native DNA. It is concluded that ellipticine intercalates with dna, and from this, that its action as an anti-tumor agent may, as has been previously suggested, be dependent upon this property. In contrast, norharman, a chemical suspected initially of being an intercalating agent, failed to stabilize the structure of DNA, was non-mutagenic to the same strain of S. typhimurium and was inactive as cell-transforming agent. In addition, its visible spectrum was not affected by the presence of DNA. The last observation is contrary to the conclusion of other workers, and an explanation of this difference is given. It is concluded that norharman is not capable of intercalating with DNA, and consequently, its mode of action as a co-mutagen is probably dependent upon its abili...Continue Reading

References

Nov 1, 1977·Nucleic Acids Research·K HayashiT Sugimura
Feb 9, 1979·Science·F J de Serres, M D Shelby
Dec 1, 1975·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·J McCannB N Ames
Jan 5, 1972·Nature: New Biology·W J PigramL D Hamilton
Oct 14, 1969·Journal of Molecular Biology·D Y Tuan, J Bonner
Jan 1, 1968·Biopolymers·A Blake, A R Peacocke

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Citations

Oct 1, 1981·Chemico-biological Interactions·O Perin-RousselF Zajdela
Oct 1, 1995·Mutation Research·C de Meester
Sep 10, 2013·Integrative Cancer Therapies·Kittappa Shathish, Chandrasekharan Guruvayoorappan
Jan 1, 1987·Environmental Mutagenesis·M M MooreD M DeMarini

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