Doxorubicin—a powerful chemotherapeutic drug—binds to DNA. Once bound, doxorubicin halts topoisomerase I and II, inhibits cell division, and leads to cell death. Although doctors use it to kill tumors, doxorubicin does not discriminate between healthy and cancerous cells, meaning that any drug remaining in the bloodstream after passing through the tumor causes damage throughout the body. This [SM1]  off-target toxicity causes side effects and limits the doxorubicin dose for patients. Since doxorubicin, and other chemotherapeutic drugs, interact with DNA base pairs, we can infer that the functional groups present in DNA nucleobases are important in the chemotherapeutic drug mechanism of action. Previous work has focused on capturing off-target doxorubicin utilizing commercial polymer materials and polymer nanoparticles. Previous work from our groups has also indicated that DNA and DNA inspired polymeric materials can bind doxorubicin and may prove valuable for removal of chemotherapeutics from the bloodstream. Therefore, we are studying the binding of chemotherapeutic agents to DNA, DNA mimicking polymers, and polymers containing common functional groups found in DNA with the goal of enhancing capture of chemotherapeutic drugs. We have polymerized various homopolymers and copolymers with functional groups similar to those of natural nucleobases. These polymers were characterized via NMR and SEC and tested to determine their interactions with chemotherapeutic agents.

Probing the binding interactions between chemotherapeutics and polymers for drug capture

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.