DNA-targeting Molecules as Therapeutic Agents

There have been remarkable advances towards discovering agents that exhibit selectivity and sequence-specificity for DNA, as well as understanding the interactions that underlie its propensity to bind molecules. This progress has important applications in many areas of biotechnology and medicine, notably in cancer treatment as well as in future gene targeting therapies.
The editor and contributing authors are leaders in their fields and provide useful perspectives from diverse and interdisciplinary backgrounds on the current status of this broad area. The role played by chemistry is a unifying theme. Early chapters cover methodologies to evaluate DNA-interactive agents and then the book provides examples of DNA-interactive molecules and technologies in development as therapeutic agents. DNA-binding metal complexes, peptide and polyamide–DNA interactions, and gene targeting tools are some of the most compelling topics treated in depth.
This book will be a valuable resource for postgraduate students and researchers in chemical biology, biochemistry, structural biology and medicinal fields. It will also be of interest to supramolecular chemists and biophysicists.

DNA-targeting Molecules as Therapeutic Agents Editor: Michael J Waring

Front Matter

Preface to Sequence-specific DNA Binding Agents

Preface

Contents

DNA Recognition by Parallel Triplex Formation

Interfacial Inhibitors

Slow DNA Binding

Thermal Denaturation of Drug–DNA Complexes

Computer Simulations of Drug–DNA Interactions: A Personal Journey

Binding of Small Molecules to Trinucleotide DNA Repeats Associated with Neurodegenerative Diseases

Parsing the Enthalpy–Entropy Compensation Phenomenon of General DNA–Ligand Interactions by a ‘Gradient Determinant’ Approach

Structural Studies of DNA-binding Metal Complexes of Therapeutic Importance

Therapeutic Potential of DNA Gene Targeting using Peptide Nucleic Acid (PNA)

Sequence-selective Interactions of Actinomycin D with DNA: Discovery of a Thermodynamic Switch

Molecular Modelling Approaches for Assessing Quadruplex–Small Molecule Interactions

Molecular Recognition of DNA by Py–Im Polyamides: From Discovery to Oncology

Synthetic Peptides for DNA Recognition Inspired by Transcription Factors

Targeting DNA Mismatches with Coordination Complexes

CRISPR Highlights and Transition of Cas9 into a Genome Editing Tool

Subject Index

Publication details

About this book