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Exploitation of drug-drug synergism and allostery could yield superior therapies by capitalizing on the immensely diverse, but highly specific, potential associated with the biological macromolecular landscape. Here we describe a drug-drug synergy mediated by allosteric cross-talk in chromatin, whereby the binding of one drug alters the activity of the second. We found two unrelated drugs, RAPTA-T and auranofin, that yield a synergistic activity in killing cancer cells, which coincides with a substantially greater number of chromatin adducts formed by one of the compounds when adducts from the other agent are also present. We show that this occurs through an allosteric mechanism within the nucleosome, whereby defined histone adducts of one drug promote reaction of the other drug at a distant, specific histone site. This opens up possibilities for epigenetic targeting and suggests that allosteric modulation in nucleosomes may have biological relevance and potential for therapeutic interventions.

Many transition metal complexes have unique physicochemical properties that can be efficiently exploited in medicinal chemistry for cancer treatment. Traditionally, double-stranded DNA has been assumed to be the main binding target; however, recent studies have shown that nucleosomal DNA as well as proteins can act as dominant molecular binding partners. This has raised new questions about the molecular determinants that govern DNA versus protein binding selectivity, and has offered new ways to rationalize their biological activity and possible side effects. To address these questions, molecular simulations at an atomistic level of detail have been used to complement, support, and rationalize experimental data. Herein we review some relevant studies-focused on platinum and ruthenium compounds-to illustrate the power of state-of-the-art molecular simulation techniques and to demonstrate how the interplay between molecular simulations and experiments can make important contributions to elucidating the target preferences of some promising transition metal anticancer agents. This contribution aims at providing relevant information that may help in the rational design of novel drug-discovery strategies.

Treatment of the known half-sandwich complexes of the type [(η6-C6H6)RuCl2(P(OR)3)] (R = Me or Ph) with SnCl2 yielded three new half-sandwich ruthenium complexes (C1-C3): [(η6-C6H6)RuCl(SnCl3)(P(OMe)3)] (C1), [(η6-C6H6)RuCl(SnCl3)(P(OPh)3)] (C2) and the bis-stannyl complex [(η6-C6H6)Ru(SnCl3)2(P(OMe)3)] (C3) by facile insertion of SnCl2 into the Ru-Cl bonds. Treatment of the known complexes [(η6-C6H6)RuCl(SnCl3)(PPh3)] and [(η6-C6H6)RuCl2(PPh3)] with 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DAMP) and ammonium tetrafluoroborate afforded the complex salts: [(η6-C6H6)Ru(SnCl3)(PPh3)(DAMP)]+BF4 - (C4) and [(η6-C6H6)RuCl(PPh3)(DAMP)]+BF4 - (C5) respectively. Complexes C1-C5 have been fully characterized by spectroscopic means (IR, UV-vis, multinuclear NMR, ESI-MS) and their thermal behaviour elucidated by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). Structural characterization by single crystal X-ray crystallography of the novel complex C2 and [(η6-C6H6)RuCl2(P(OPh)3)], the latter having escaped elucidation by this method, is also reported. Finally, the cytotoxicity of the complexes was determined on the A2780 (human ovarian cancer), A2780cisR (human ovarian cis-platin-resistant cancer), and the HEK293 (human embryonic kidney) cell lines and discussed, and an attempt is made to elucidate the effect of the stannyl ligand on cytotoxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]