Fluorescent Dansyl-Guanosine Conjugates that Bind c-MYC Promoter G-Quadruplex and Downregulate c-MYC Expression

The four-stranded G-quadruplex present in the c-MYC P1 promoter has been shown to play a pivotal role in the regulation of c-MYC transcription. Small-molecule compounds capable of inhibiting the c-MYC promoter activity by stabilising the c-MYC G-quadruplex could potentially be used as anticancer agents. In this context, here we report the synthesis of dansyl-guanosine conjugates through one-pot modular click reactions. The dansyl-guanosine conjugates can selectively detect c-MYC G-quadruplex over other biologically relevant quadruplexes and duplex DNA and can be useful as staining reagents for selective visualisation of c-MYC G-quadruplex over duplex DNA by gel electrophoresis. NMR spectroscopic titrations revealed the preferential binding sites of these dansyl ligands to the c-MYC G-quadruplex. A dual luciferase assay and qRT-PCR revealed that a dansyl-bisguanosine ligand represses the c-MYC expression, possibly by stabilising the c-MYC G-quadruplex.