Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 15, 2026
Bioorthogonal Chemical Imaging of Cell Metabolism Regulated by Aromatic Amino Acids
Published on: May 12, 2023
Probing the interaction of anthraquinone with DNA by spectroscopy, molecular modeling and cancer cell imaging
Lei Yang1, Zheng Fu2, Xiaoqing Niu2
1School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Media and Reactions, Ministry of Education, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China; Cancer Institute & Hospital, Peking Union Medical College & Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100021, China.
Abstract:
A new anthraquinone derivative, (E)-2-(1-(4,5-dihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)-tetrahydro-2H-pyran-2-yloxyimino)ethyl)-1,4-dihydroxyanthracene-9,10-dione (AODGlc), was synthesized and its binding properties towards DNA were explored under physiological conditions by fluorescence spectroscopy, DNA melting as well as docking techniques. The experimental results revealed that AODGlc could bind to calf thymus DNA (ctDNA) through intercalation between DNA base pairs. The values of thermodynamic parameters at different temperatures including ΔG, ΔH, and ΔS and the molecular modeling study implied that hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonds were the main interactions in the AODGlc-ctDNA system. Cervical cancer cells (HepG2 cells) were used in cell viability assay and cell imaging experiment. AODGlc could interact with HepG2 cells and kill HepG2 cells under high concentration with nice curative effect, indicating its potential bioapplication in the future.
