The cover image of the international edition of the February 13 issue of the journal Angewandte Chemie German represents a new form of DNA helices formed by three researchers who have described CSIC, Institute of Biomedical Research of the PCB and the University of Birmingham, in a collaboration that has found a surprising structure almost by chance, while trying to test the effectiveness of a drug as a therapeutic agent against DNA targets.

In the center of this cross with three arms there is a cavity in which drugs that block can fit the DNA, unlike what happens at the crossroads of four arms, this group also described the CSIC in 1999, and leave no space for the binding of another molecule. On this occasion, the authors point out that the new structure of DNA can be used as a therapeutic target, in view of the cytotoxicity exerted by the synthetic drug tested, a trigonal symmetry helicato designed in the image of an alpha helix, which fits perfectly and with great specificity in the central hydrophobic cavity of this three-way intersection.

The structure consists of three double helices of DNA, appears in some stages of cell division and is manifested in cellular pathology such as tumors, myotonic dystrophy, Huntington disease, as well as in the genome of some viruses. Its discovery and the ability to target it represents a breakthrough drugs (the largest in the last three decades) in the design of pharmacological strategies against the genetic material, as it provides a new solution that adds to existing and currently applied in the treatment of diseases such as cancer.