In situ electrochemical evaluation of anticancer drug temozolomide and its metabolites-DNA interaction

Temozolomide (TMZ) is an antineoplastic alkylating agent with activity against serious and aggressive types of brain tumours. It has been postulated that TMZ exerts its antitumor activity via its spontaneous degradation at physiological pH. The in vitro evaluation of the interaction of TMZ and its final metabolites, 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide (AIC) and methyldiazonium ion, with double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) was studied using differential pulse voltammetry at a glassy carbon electrode. The DNA damage was electrochemically detected following the changes in the oxidation peaks of guanosine and adenosine residues. The results obtained revealed the decrease of the dsDNA oxidation peaks with incubation time, showing that TMZ and AIC/methyldiazonium ion interact with dsDNA causing its condensation. Furthermore, the experiments of the in situ TMZ and AIC/methyldiazonium ion-dsDNA interaction using the multilayer dsDNA-electrochemical biosensor confirmed the condensation of dsDNA caused by these species and showed evidence for a specific interaction between the guanosine residues and TMZ metabolites, since free guanine oxidation peak was detected. The oxidative damage caused to DNA bases by TMZ metabolites was also detected electrochemically by monitoring the appearance of the 8-oxoguanine/2,8-dyhydroxyadenine oxidation peaks. Nondenaturing agarose gel electrophoresis of AIC/methyldiazonium ion-dsDNA samples confirmed the occurrence of dsDNA condensation and oxidative damage observed in the electrochemical results. The importance of the dsDNA-electrochemical biosensor in the in situ evaluation of TMZ-dsDNA interactions is clearly demonstrated.