Interaction of mitoxantrone, as an anticancer drug, with chromatin proteins, core histones and H1, in solution

In the present study, for the first time we have investigated the interaction of anticancer drug mitoxantrone with histone H1 and core histone proteins in solution using fluorescence, UV/Vis, CD spectroscopy and thermal denaturation techniques. The results showed that mitoxantrone reduced the absorbencies of H1 and core histone proteins at 210 nm (hypochromicity) and fluorescence emission intensity was decreased in a dose dependent. Binding of mitoxantrone changed secondary structures of the proteins as circular dichroism analysis confirmed it. Also, mitoxantrone increased the melting temperature of core histones at the final step of denaturation. The results suggest higher affinity of mitoxantrone to histone H1 compared to core histones providing histone proteins as a new target for mitoxantrone action at the chromatin level.