Synthesis of a duplex oligonucleotide containing a nitrogen mustard interstrand DNA-DNA cross-link.

Many cancer chemotherapeutic agents react with DNA and give adducts that block DNA replication, which is thought to result in cytotoxicity, especially in rapidly proliferating cells such as cancer cells. One class of these agents is bifunctionally reactive (e.g., the nitrogen mustards) and forms DNA-DNA cross-links. It is unknown whether inter- or intrastrand cross-links are more effective at blocking DNA replication. To evaluate this, a DNA shuttle vector is being constructed with an interstrand cross-link at a unique site. In the first step of this project, a duplex oligonucleotide containing an interstrand cross-link is isolated by denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis from the reaction of nitrogen mustard with two partially complementary oligodeoxynucleotides. The purified oligonucleotide product is characterized and shown to be cross-linked in a 5'-GAC-3' 3'-CTG-5' sequence by a nitrogen mustard moiety that is bound at the N(7)-position of the guanines in the opposing strands; the glycosylic bonds of these guanine adducts are stabilized in their corresponding imidazole ring-opened form. Nitrogen mustard is shown to react with a variety of oligonucleotides and, based upon these results, its preferred targets for interstrand cross-linking are 5'-GXC-3' sequences, where X can be any of the four deoxyribonucleotide bases.