Birmingham University announces DNA drug breakthrough

The UK's Birmingham University says that a research group has identified a novel mechanism by which drugs can attach themselves to DNA. The work, jointly led by the university's Mike Hannon and Miquel Coll of the Spanish Research Council in Barcelona, was published in the February issue of the German chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie.

The group has developed a synthetic drug agent which binds to DNA at a three-way junction found where the molecule's double helical regions join together. The researchers add that the discovery is a potential massive step forward because three-way junctions are already known to be present in some diseases, such as Huntington's and myotonic dystrohpy, many viruses and are created whenever DNA replication occurs.

The team says that the compound may allow direct regulation of genes associated with a disease state, either by up or downregulating their expression. The full research data can be found at: www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jhome/26737.