Photodynamic therapy targeting nucleic acid G-quadruplexes

Abstract

The development of drugs that target specific proteins has been mainly promoted for molecular-targeted therapies but there are many examples of proteins that are difficult to target owing to their structural characteristics. However, the development of drugs targeting non-canonical nucleic acid structures, including G-quadruplexes (G4), has progressed and is expected to have applications in new cancer treatment methods. In this review, we explain why G4 is attracting attention as a therapeutic target molecule and how to introduce antitumor activity in G4 ligands with photosensitizing abilities that can be adapted for photodynamic cancer therapies.