title: Molecular beacon probes for the detection of cisplatin-induced DNA damage.
abstract: Cisplatin (cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II)) causes crosslinking of DNA at AG and GG sites in cellular DNA, inhibiting replication, and making it a useful anti-cancer drug. Several techniques have been used previously to detect nucleic acid damage but most of these tools are labour-intensive, time-consuming, and/or expensive. Here, we describe a sensitive, robust, and quantitative tool for detecting cisplatin-induced DNA damage by using fluorescent molecular beacon probes (MB). Our results show a decrease of fluorescence in the presence of cisplatin-induced DNA damage, confirmed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). The decrease in fluorescence upon damage scales with the number of AG and GG sites, indicating the ability of MB to quantitatively detect DNA damage by cisplatin.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
authors.forename: Zahra J
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Shire
authors.forename: Glen R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Loppnow
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000633:toxicity*; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000633:toxicity*; D004249:DNA Damage; D005453:Fluorescence; D015335:Molecular Probes; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D015335:Molecular Probes; D002945:Cisplatin