Formation and stabilization of the telomeric antiparallel G-quadruplex and inhibition of telomerase by novel benzothioxanthene derivatives with anti-tumor activity

G-quadruplexes formed in telomeric DNA sequences at human chromosome ends can be a novel target for the development of therapeutics for the treatment of cancer patients. Herein, we examined the ability of six novel benzothioxanthene derivatives S1–S6 to induce the formation of and stabilize an antiparallel G-quadruplex by EMSA, UV-melting and CD techniques and the influence of S1–S6 on A549 and SGC7901 cells through real-time cell analysis, wound healing, trap assay methods. Results show that six compounds could differentially induce 26 nt G-rich oligonucleotides to form the G-quadruplex with high selectivity vs C-rich DNA, mutated DNA and double-stranded DNA, stabilize it with high affinity, promote apoptosis and inhibit mobility and telomerase activity of A549 cells and SGC7901 cells. Especially, S1, S3, S4 displayed stronger abilities, of which S3 was the most optimal with the maximum ΔT(m) value being up to 29.8 °C for G-quadruplex, the minimum IC(50) value being 0.53 μM and the maximum cell inhibitory rate being up to 97.2%. This study suggests that this type of compounds that induce the formation of and stabilize the telomeric antiparallel G-quadruplex, and consequently inhibit telomerase activity, leading to cell apoptosis, can be screened for the discovery of novel antitumor therapeutics.