The compositions and methods disclosed herein provide heterobifunctional programmable genotoxic compounds that can be designed to kill selected cells present in a heterogenous cell population. The present compounds comprise a first agent that inflicts damage on cellular DNA, and a second agent that attracts a macromolecular cell component such as a protein, which in turn shields genomic lesions from repair. Unrepaired lesions therefore persist in the cellular genome and contribute to the death of selected cells. In contrast, lesions formed in nonselected cells, which lack the cell component, are unshielded and thus are repaired. As a result, compounds described herein are less toxic to nonselected cells. Compounds of this invention can be designed to cause the selective killing of transformed cells, viral-infected cells and the like.
本文披露的组合物和方法提供了可以设计用于杀灭异质细胞群中特定细胞的杂交双功能可编程致
基因毒性化合物。这些化合物包括第一种对细胞DNA造成损伤的药物和第二种吸引大分子细胞组分(如蛋白质)的药物,后者又保护
基因组损伤免受修复。未修复的损伤因此在细胞
基因组中持续存在,并有助于导致选定细胞的死亡。相比之下,在缺乏细胞组分的非选定细胞中形成的损伤则未受保护,因此会被修复。因此,本发明描述的化合物对非选定细胞的毒性较小。本发明的化合物可以设计用于选择性杀灭转化细胞、病毒感染细胞等。