A 1,2-d(GpG) cisplatin intrastrand cross-link influences the rotational and translational setting of DNA in nucleosomes.

The mechanism of action of platinum-based anticancer drugs such as cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II), or cisplatin, involves three early steps: cell entry, drug activation, and target binding. A major target in the cell, responsible for the anticancer activity, is nuclear DNA, which is packaged in nucleosomes that comprise chromatin. It is important to understand the nature of platinum-DNA interactions at the level of the nucleosome. The cis-{Pt(NH3)2}2+ 1,2-d(GpG) intrastrand cross-link is the DNA lesion most commonly encountered following cisplatin treatment. We therefore assembled two site-specifically platinated nucleosomes using synthetic DNA containing defined cis-{Pt(NH3)2}2+ 1,2-d(GpG) cross-links and core histones from HeLa-S3 cancer cells. The structures of these complexes were investigated by hydroxyl radical footprinting and exonuclease III mapping. Our experiments demonstrate that the 1,2-d(GpG) cross-link alters the rotational setting of the DNA on the histone octamer core such that the lesion faces inward, with disposition angles of the major groove relative to the core of xi approximately -20 degrees and xi approximately 40 degrees . We observe increased solvent accessibility of the platinated DNA strand, which may be caused by a structural perturbation in proximity of the 1,2-d(GpG) cisplatin lesion. The effect of the 1,2-d(GpG) cisplatin adduct on the translational setting of the nucleosomal DNA depends strongly on the position of the adduct within the sequence. If the cross-link is located at a site that is in phase with the preferred rotational setting of the unplatinated nucleosomal DNA, the effect on the translational position is negligible. Minor exonuclease III digestion products in this substrate indicate that the cisplatin adduct permits only those translational settings that differ from one another by integral numbers of DNA helical turns. If the lesion is located out of phase with the preferred rotational setting, the translational position of the main conformation was shifted by 5 bp. Additionally, a fraction of platinated nucleosomes with widely distributed translational positions was observed, suggesting increased nucleosome sliding relative to platinated nucleosomes containing the 1,3-intrastrand d(GpTpG) cross-link investigated previously (Ober, M.; Lippard, S. J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 6278-6286).