Using UV–Vis Titration to Elucidate Novel EGCG-Induced Stabilization of the c-MYC G-Quadruplex
Bibliographic record
Abstract
The c-MYC oncogene is frequently overexpressed in various human cancers, including aggressive brain tumors like glioblastoma, contributing significantly to tumor cell proliferation and survival. The promoter region of c-MYC contains guanine-rich sequences capable of forming non-canonical DNA structures known as G-quadruplexes (G4s). Stabilization of these G4 structures by small molecule ligands represents a potential therapeutic strategy to downregulate c-MYC expression. Polyphenols, naturally occurring compounds found in plants, possess diverse biological activities, including anticancer effects, and some have been implicated in DNA interactions. Here, we investigate the direct interaction between Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a major polyphenol in green tea, and a synthetic oligonucleotide sequence (Pu27) known to form the predominant G4 structure in the c-MYC promoter. Using simple UV-Vis absorbance spectroscopy, we performed titration experiments by adding increasing concentrations of EGCG to a fixed concentration of pre-formed c-MYC G4 DNA in a potassium-containing buffer. We observed distinct spectral changes upon EGCG addition, notably a concentration-dependent hyperchromicity at the DNA absorbance maximum (~260 nm) and concurrent changes, including hypochromicity and a slight red-shift, near the EGCG absorbance maximum (~275 nm). These spectral perturbations are indicative of a direct interaction between EGCG and the c-MYC G4 DNA structure in vitro. While preliminary, these findings support the hypothesis that EGCG can bind to c-MYC G4 DNA and warrant further investigation into the nature and potential biological significance of this interaction.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".