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Updated: Aug 24, 2026

Formation of Covalent DNA Adducts by Enzymatically Activated Carcinogens and Drugs In Vitro and Their Determination by 32P-postlabeling
Published on: March 20, 2018
DNA adducts with chlorophyll and chlorophyllin as antimutagenic agents: synthesis, stability, and structural features
Heidar-Ali Tajmir-Riahi1, Jean-Francois Neault, Stavroula Diamantoglou
1Département de Chimie-Biologie, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada.
Abstract:
Porphyrins and their metal derivatives are strong DNA binders with association constants of 10(5) M(-1) to 10(7) M(-1). Some of these compounds have been used for radiation sensitization therapy of cancer and are targeted to interact with cellular DNA. Chlorophyll (CHL) and chlorophyllin (CHLN), a food-grade derivative of chlorophyll, the ubiquitous green plant pigment widely consumed by humans, are potent inhibitors of experimental carcinogenesis. The aim of this report was to examine the interaction of calf-thymus DNA with CHL and CHLN in aqueous solution at physiological pH, with pigment/DNA(phosphate) molar ratios (r) of 1/80 to 1/2. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) difference spectroscopic method was used to determine the pigment binding mode, binding constant, sequence selectivity, DNA secondary structure and structural variations of the pigment-DNA complexes in aqueous solution.
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