Synthesis and biological properties of caffeic acid-PNA dimers containing guanine

Molecules. 2013 Jul 31;18(8):9147-62. doi: 10.3390/molecules18089147.

Abstract

Caffeic acid (CA; 3,4-dihydroxycinnamic acid) is endowed with high antioxidant activity. CA derivatives (such as amides) have gained a lot of attention due to their antioxidative, antitumor and antimicrobial properties as well as stable characteristics. Caffeoyl-peptide derivatives showed different antioxidant activity depending on the type and the sequence of amino acid used. For these reasons, we decided to combine CA with Peptide Nucleic Acid (PNA) to test whether the new PNA-CA amide derivatives would result in an improvement or gain of CA's biological (i.e., antioxidant, cytotoxic, cytoprotective) properties. We performed the synthesis and characterization of seven dimer conjugates with various combinations of nucleic acid bases and focused NMR studies on the model compound ga-CA dimer. We demonstrate that PNA dimers containing guanine conjugated to CA exhibited different biological activities depending on composition and sequence of the nucleobases. The dimer ag-CA protected HepG2, SK-B-NE(2), and C6 cells from a cytotoxic dose of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂).

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antioxidants / chemistry
  • Arabinonucleosides / chemical synthesis*
  • Arabinonucleosides / pharmacology
  • Caffeic Acids / chemical synthesis*
  • Caffeic Acids / pharmacology
  • Cell Survival / drug effects
  • Dimerization
  • Guanine / chemistry*
  • Guanine / pharmacology
  • Hep G2 Cells
  • Humans
  • Hydrogen Peroxide / toxicity
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Molecular Structure
  • Peptide Nucleic Acids / chemical synthesis
  • Peptide Nucleic Acids / chemistry

Substances

  • 2-amino-9-(2,3-dideoxy-2,3-dihydro-beta-D-arabinofuranosyl)-6-methoxy-9H-purine
  • Antioxidants
  • Arabinonucleosides
  • Caffeic Acids
  • Peptide Nucleic Acids
  • Guanine
  • Hydrogen Peroxide
  • caffeic acid