Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy for multiple-site equilibrium binding: a case of doxorubicin-DNA interaction

Quantitative description of the interaction between doxorubicin (DOX), a broadly used anticancer drug, and DNA is the key to understand the action mechanism and side effects of its clinical use. However, the reported equilibrium constants of DOX-DNA interaction obtained using a range of different analytical methods vary even by several orders of magnitude. Herein, we propose a novel application of a single-molecule technique - fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) - to probe the interaction between DOX and two types of DNA (pUC19 and calf thymus DNA), taking advantage of intrinsic self-fluorescence of DOX. We provide an analytical formula for autocorrelation analysis to determine the equilibrium constant of DOX-DNA complex-formation, where binding of multiple DOX molecules to a DNA chain is included in the reaction-diffusion model. Our FCS-based method not only quantitatively revealed the values of equilibrium constant, but also implied that the stability of DOX-DNA complex is related to the types of base pair rather than the length or structure of the DNA. This work opens a promising pathway toward quantitative determination of molecular interactions in complex systems such as living cells or organisms at single-molecule level.