Vendredi 17 février 2012 à 11 h 00

à l’invitation de Jean-Marc Malinge

« Telomeres, potential targets of platinum complexes »

Docteur Sophie BOMBARD

Université Paris Descartes
INSERM UMR-S-1007
45 rue des Saints-Pères
75006 Paris

Telomeres are DNA-protein structures that cap chromosome ends, protecting them from degradation and end-to-end fusions. Telomeric DNA consists of highly repetitive short sequences of guanine residues (TTAGGG)n followed by an overhang at the 3’ end of the G-rich strand. Telomeric DNA is able to adopt G-quadruplex structures whose stabilisation by small molecules induces telomere dysfunctions. We will discuss the fact that a new class of platinum complexes, targeting G-quadruplex structures, is able to disturb the telomeric complex in vitro and in cellulo and constitutes an attractive new class of compounds targeting specifically telomeres of cancer cells.