The study of small drug molecules interacting with nucleic acids is an area of intense research that has particular relevance in our understanding of relative mechanism in chemotherapeutic applications and the association between genetics (including sequence variation) and drug response. In this contribution, we demonstrate how the sequence-specic binding of an anticancer drug Dacarbazine (DTIC) to single base (A-G) mismatch could be sensitively detected by combining electrochemical detection with biosensing surface based on gold nanoparticles.

The probe effect on the apparent image of biological atomic force microscopy was explored in this study, and the potential of AFM in conformational study of gene related biological processes was illustrated by the specific nanostructural information of a new antitumor drug binding to DNA.

The surface-enhanced Raman spectroelectrochemical behavior of riboflavin has been investigated in the absence and the presence ofβ-cyclodextrin (β-CD) on a silver electrode. The SERS spectra of the reduced anion intermediate species have been clearly observed at the electrode surface. The results also indicate that the formation of an inclusion complex with β-CD can stabilize the anion radicals and make it easier to reduce.

The appearance of drug-resistant (especially, multidrug-resistant (MDR)) tumor cells is a major obstacle to the success of chemotherapy; thus, the development of effective anti-MDR agents plays an important role in the tumor therapy. In this report, the considerable effect of nano-TiO2 and UV illumination on the drug resistance of target cancer cells has been explored, and the fresh evidence from the fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy as well as electrochemical studies demonstrates the significant enhancement effect of nano-TiO2 to the drug uptake by drug-resistant leukemia cells. Besides, it is also observed that the combination of the nano-TiO2 and UV irradiation with the accompanying anticancer drug daunorubicin could provoke some considerable changes of the cell membrane of the target leukemia cells, which indicates that nano-TiO2 could not only increase the drug accumulation in target cancer cells, but also act as an effective anti-MDR agent to inhibit the relative drug resistance.

A non-dense long-chain tethered bipyridinium monolayer linked to an electrode support is reversibly retracted and attracted from and to the electrode respectively by the applied potential. The "molecular machinery" functions of the monolayer are probed by chronoamperometry and contact angle measurements.