Publications

Main recent scientific papers published by the group.

Duardo, R. C., Guerra, F., Pepe, S., & Capranico, G. (2023). Non-B DNA structures as a booster of genome instability. Biochimie. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biochi.2023.07.002

Russo, M., Morelli, S., & Capranico, G. (2023). Expression of down-regulated ERV LTR elements associates with immune activation in human small-cell lung cancers. Mobile DNA, 14(1), 2. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13100-023-00290-w

Miglietta, G., Marinello, J., Russo, M., & Capranico, G. (2022). Ligands stimulating antitumour immunity as the next G-quadruplex challenge. Molecular Cancer, 21(1), 180. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12943-022-01649-y

Marzano, S., Miglietta, G., Morigi, R., Marinello, J., Arleo, A., Procacci, M., Locatelli, A., Leoni, A., Pagano, B., Randazzo, A., Amato, J., & Capranico, G. (2022). Balancing Affinity, Selectivity, and Cytotoxicity of Hydrazone-Based G-Quadruplex Ligands for Activation of Interferon β Genes in Cancer Cells. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 65(18), 12055–12067. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.2c00772

Jessica Marinello, Giovanni Capranico, Highly Purified Top1-Bound DNA Fragments, in: Methods in Molecular Biology, New York, Humana Press Inc., 2022, pp. 203 - 213 (METHODS IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY) [book chapter]

Marinello, J., Arleo, A., Russo, M., Delcuratolo, M., Ciccarelli, F., Pommier, Y., & Capranico, G. (2022). Topoisomerase I poison-triggered immune gene activation is markedly reduced in human small-cell lung cancers by impairment of the cGAS/STING pathway. British Journal of Cancer, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-022-01894-4

Non-cytotoxic doses of G4 binders can activate innate immune gene pathways in cancer cells

Giulia Miglietta, Marco Russo, Renée C. Duardo and Giovanni Capranico
G-quadruplex binders as cytostatic modulators of innate immune genes in cancer cells
Nucleic Acids Research, 2021, Vol. 49, No. 12 6673–6686 https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkab500

A review on R-loop dependent genome instability caused by G4 stabilisation with chemicals or genetic alterations

Giulia Miglietta, Marco Russo and Giovanni Capranico
G-quadruplex–R-loop interactions and the mechanism of anticancer G-quadruplex binders
Nucleic Acids Research, 2020, Vol. 48, No. 21, 11942–11957. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkaa944

New G4 binders have been discovered thorough a collaboration with chemist groups.

Jussara Amato, Giulia Miglietta, Rita Morigi, Nunzia Iaccarino, Alessandra Locatelli, Alberto Leoni, Ettore Novellino, Bruno Pagano, Giovanni Capranico*, Antonio Randazzo* (*co-last). Monohydrazone Based G-Quadruplex Selective Ligands Induce DNA Damage and Genome Instability in Human Cancer Cells. J Med Chem 2020 Mar 26;63(6):3090-3103. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.9b01866

Our last paper together with O. Sordet (Toulouse, France) on the repair of Top1-mediated DNA cleavage in post-mitotic cells.

Cristini A, Ricci G, Britton S, Salimbeni S, Huang SN, Marinello J, Calsou P,
Pommier Y, Favre G, Capranico G, Gromak N, Sordet O. Dual Processing of R-Loops
and Topoisomerase I Induces Transcription-Dependent DNA Double-Strand Breaks.
Cell Rep. 2019 Sep 17;28(12):3167-3181.e6.

We made available to the community a bioinformatic tools developed by Marco Russo, then-PhD student, now post-doc in the lab.

Russo M, De Lucca B, Flati T, Gioiosa S, Chillemi G, Capranico G. DROPA:
DRIP-seq optimized peak annotator. BMC Bioinformatics. 2019 Aug 6;20(1):414. doi:
10.1186/s12859-019-3009-9.

Our latest publication on the role of R loops in genome instability caused by G4 binders in cancer cells.

De Magis A, Manzo SG, Russo M, Marinello J, Morigi R, Sordet O, Capranico G.
DNA damage and genome instability by G-quadruplex ligands are mediated by R loops
in human cancer cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 Dec 27. pii: 201810409.

This paper reports on the dual role of human topoisomerase I in the regulation R loops depending on the chromatin and genome contexts.

Manzo SG, Hartono SR, Sanz LA, Marinello J, De Biasi S, Cossarizza A, Capranico G, Chedin F. DNA Topoisomerase I differentially modulates R-loops across the human genome. Genome Biol. 2018 Jul 30;19(1):100.

A review on anthracycline utility in the present-day medical oncology.

Anthracyclines as Topoisomerase II Poisons: From Early Studies to New Perspectives
Jessica Marinello, Maria Delcuratolo and Giovanni Capranico
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2018, 19(11), 3480

A review on DNA topoisomerase I discussing non-canonical functions of these nuclear enzymes.

Capranico G, Marinello J, Chillemi G. Type I DNA Topoisomerases. J Med Chem. 2017 Mar 23;60(6):2169-2192.

Marinello J, Chillemi G, Bueno S, Manzo SG, Capranico G. Antisense transcripts enhanced by camptothecin at divergent CpG-island promoters associated with bursts of topoisomerase I-DNA cleavage complex and R-loop formation. Nucleic Acids Res. 2013 Dec;41(22):10110-23.

Amato J, Morigi R, Pagano B, Pagano A, Ohnmacht S, De Magis A, Tiang YP, Capranico G, Locatelli A, Graziadio A, Leoni A, Rambaldi M, Novellino E, Neidle S, Randazzo A. Toward the Development of Specific G-Quadruplex Binders: Synthesis, Biophysical, and Biological Studies of New Hydrazone Derivatives. J Med Chem. 2016 Jun 23;59(12):5706-20.

Marinello J, Bertoncini S, Aloisi I, Cristini A, Malagoli Tagliazucchi G, Forcato M, Sordet O, Capranico G. Dynamic Effects of Topoisomerase I Inhibition on R-Loops and Short Transcripts at Active Promoters. PLoS One. 2016 Jan 19;11(1):e0147053.

Cristini A, Park JH, Capranico G, Legube G, Favre G, Sordet O. DNA-PK triggers histone ubiquitination and signaling in response to DNA double-strand breaks produced during the repair of transcription-blocking topoisomerase I lesions. Nucleic Acids Res. 2016 Feb 18;44(3):1161-78.

Amato J, Pagano A, Cosconati S, Amendola G, Fotticchia I, Iaccarino N, Marinello J, De Magis A, Capranico G, Novellino E, Pagano B, Randazzo A. Discovery of the first dual G-triplex/G-quadruplex stabilizing compound: a new opportunity in the targeting of G-rich DNA structures? Biochim Biophys Acta. 2016 Nov 9. S0304-4165(16)30411-1.

Bertozzi D, Marinello J, Manzo SG, Fornari F, Gramantieri L, Capranico G. The natural inhibitor of DNA topoisomerase I, camptothecin, modulates HIF-1α activity by changing miR expression patterns in human cancer cells. Mol Cancer Ther. 2014 Jan;13(1):239-48.