Sequence-specific DNA strand cleavage by 111In-labeled peptide nucleic acids

Peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) bind tightly and sequence-specifically to single- and double-stranded nucleic acids, and are hence of interest in the design of gene-targeted radiotherapeutics that could deliver the radiodamage to designated DNA and/or RNA sites. As a first step towards this goal, we developed a procedure for incorporation of Auger electron-emitting radionuclide (indium-111) into PNA oligomers and studied the efficiency of PNA-directed cleavage of single-stranded DNA targets. Accordingly, diethylene triamine penta-acetic acid (DTPA) was conjugated to the lysine-appended mixed-base PNAs and sequence-homologous DNA oligomer with a proper linker for comparative studies. By chelation of PNA-DTPA and DNA-DTPA conjugates with (111)In(3+) in acidic aqueous solutions, (111)In-labeled PNA and DNA oligomers were obtained. Targeting of single-stranded DNA with PNA-DTPA-[(111)In] conjugates yielded highly localized DNA strand cleavage; the distribution of breaks along the target DNA strand has two maxima corresponding to both termini of PNA oligomer. After 10-14 days, the overall yield of breaks thus generated within the PNA-targeted DNA by (111)In decay was 5-7% versus < or =2% in the case of control oligonucleotide DNA-DTPA-[(111)In]. The estimated yield of DNA strand breaks per nuclear decay is ~0.1 for the PNA-directed delivery of (111)In, which is three times more than for the DNA-directed delivery of this radionuclide. This in vitro study shows that (111)In-labeled PNAs are much more effective than radiolabeled DNA oligonucleotides for site-specific damaging of DNA targets. Accordingly, we believe that PNA oligomers are promising radionuclide delivery tools for future antisense/antigene radiotherapy trials.