AGRO100, also known as AS1411, is an experimental anticancer drug that recently entered human clinical trials.

The discovery of G-rich oligonucleotides (GROs) that have non-antisense antiproliferative activity against a number of cancer cell lines has been recently described. This biological activity of GROs was found to be associated with their ability to form stable G-quartet-containing structures and their binding to a specific cellular protein, most likely nucleolin (Bates, P. J., Kahlon, J. B., Thomas, S. D., Trent, J. O., and Miller, D. M. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274, 26369 -26377). In this report, we further investigate the novel mechanism of GRO activity by examining their effects on cell cycle progression and on nucleic acid and protein biosynthesis. Cell cycle analysis of several tumor cell lines showed that cells accumulate in S phase in response to treatment with an active GRO. Analysis of 5-bromodeoxyuridine incorporation by these cells indicated the absence of de novo DNA synthesis, suggesting an arrest of the cell cycle predominantly in S phase. At the same time point, RNA and protein synthesis were found to be ongoing, indicating that arrest of DNA replication is a primary event in GRO-mediated inhibition of proliferation. This specific blockade of DNA replication eventually resulted in altered cell morphology and induction of apoptosis. To characterize further GRO-mediated inhibition of DNA replication, we used an in vitro assay based on replication of SV40 DNA. GROs were found to be capable of inhibiting DNA replication in the in vitro assay, and this activity was correlated to their antiproliferative effects. Furthermore, the effect of GROs on DNA replication in this assay was related to their inhibition of SV40 large T antigen helicase activity. The data presented suggest that the antiproliferative activity of GROs is a direct result of their inhibition of DNA replication, which may result from modulation of a replicative helicase activity.Oligonucleotides can recognize both nucleic acids and proteins with a high degree of specificity. This is a major reason why they have been widely investigated as potential therapeutic agents for cancer, viral infections, and inflammatory diseases. Oligonucleotides can achieve target recognition by sequence-specific interactions with nucleic acids or proteins such as in the antisense, antigene, or decoy approaches (1-4). Alternatively, target recognition can be due to the specific threedimensional structure of an oligonucleotide, as in the aptamer approach (5, 6). These aptameric oligonucleotides often contain secondary structure elements such as hairpins or G-quartets. The formation of G-quartet structures is also thought to contribute to non-antisense growth inhibitory effects of G-rich phosphodiester and phosphorothioate oligonucleotides (7-9).Recently, we reported (9) on a novel class of phosphodiester G-rich oligonucleotides (GROs) 1 that could strongly inhibit the in vitro proliferation of tumor cells derived from prostate, breast, and cervical carcinomas. The antiproliferative GROs were able to form stable secondary structures consistent with G-quartet format...

AS1411 is a quadruplex-forming oligonucleotide aptamer that targets nucleolin. It is currently in clinical trials as a treatment for various cancers. We have proposed that AS1411 inhibits cancer cell proliferation by affecting the activities of certain nucleolin-containing complexes. Here, we report that protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5), an enzyme that catalyzes the formation of symmetrical dimethylarginine (sDMA), is a nucleolin-associated protein whose localization and activity are altered by AS1411. Levels of PRMT5 were found to be decreased in the nucleus of AS1411-treated DU145 human prostate cancer cells, but increased in the cytoplasm. These changes were dependent on nucleolin and were not observed in cells pretreated with nucleolin-specific small interfering RNA. Treatment with AS1411 altered levels of PRMT5 activity (assessed by sDMA levels) in accord with changes in its localization. In addition, our data indicate that nucleolin itself is a substrate for PRMT5 and that distribution of sDMA-modified nucleolin is altered by AS1411. Because histone arginine methylation by PRMT5 causes transcriptional repression, we also examined expression of selected PRMT5 target genes in AS1411-treated cells. For some genes, including cyclin E2 and tumor suppressor ST7, a significant up-regulation was noted, which corresponded with decreased PRMT5 association with the gene promoter. We conclude that nucleolin is a novel binding partner and substrate for PRMT5, and that AS1411 causes relocalization of the nucleolin-PRMT5 complex from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. Consequently, the nuclear activity of PRMT5 is decreased, leading to derepression of some PRMT5 target genes, which may contribute to the biological effects of AS1411. [Cancer Res 2007;67(21):10491-500]

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