Lumazine has been identified as a potential drug in the treatment of skin cancer via photodynamic cancer therapy. While the mechanism of DNA degradation following irradiation of lumazine with light has been identified to proceed predominantly via the type 1 pathway (excited state electron transfer), type 2 cell death (singlet oxygen production) has also been identified as a possible mechanism. The type 1 interaction has also been shown to be dependent on the charge and structure of lumazine’s tautomer’s as a function of pH, which is an important consideration. Previous work with single DNA base monomers have shown changes in fluorescence for adenine and guanine, as well as differences in anisotropy for adenine. Since DNA is built on polymers of DNA bases, however, determining how DNA polymer length effects lumazine interaction can help better define the geometry of a possible lumazine-DNA complex and its mechanism of action. Specifically, monitoring changes in fluorescence and anisotropy of chains of adenine of 2 and 5 chain lengths will be compared to adenine monomers to determine the effect of polymer length on the electron transfer process.

Investigating the effect of adenine polymer length on type 1 cell death with the photodynamic cancer therapy drug lumazine

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