1. Targeting HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase Using a Fragment-Based Approach.
- Author
-
Mansouri, Mahta, Rumrill, Shawn, Dawson, Shane, Johnson, Adam, Pinson, Jo-Anne, Gunzburg, Menachem J., Latham, Catherine F., Barlow, Nicholas, Mbogo, George W., Ellenberg, Paula, Headey, Stephen J., Sluis-Cremer, Nicolas, Tyssen, David, Bauman, Joseph D., Ruiz, Francesc X., Arnold, Eddy, Chalmers, David K., and Tachedjian, Gilda
- Subjects
- *
REVERSE transcriptase , *AIDS , *HIV , *DRUG discovery , *CYCLOPROPYL compounds , *VIRAL proteins - Abstract
Human immunodeficiency virus type I (HIV-1) is a retrovirus that infects cells of the host's immune system leading to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and potentially death. Although treatments are available to prevent its progression, HIV-1 remains a major burden on health resources worldwide. Continued emergence of drug-resistance mutations drives the need for novel drugs that can inhibit HIV-1 replication through new pathways. The viral protein reverse transcriptase (RT) plays a fundamental role in the HIV-1 replication cycle, and multiple approved medications target this enzyme. In this study, fragment-based drug discovery was used to optimize a previously identified hit fragment (compound B-1), which bound RT at a novel site. Three series of compounds were synthesized and evaluated for their HIV-1 RT binding and inhibition. These series were designed to investigate different vectors around the initial hit in an attempt to improve inhibitory activity against RT. Our results show that the 4-position of the core scaffold is important for binding of the fragment to RT, and a lead compound with a cyclopropyl substitution was selected and further investigated. Requirements for binding to the NNRTI-binding pocket (NNIBP) and a novel adjacent site were investigated, with lead compound 27—a minimal but efficient NNRTI—offering a starting site for the development of novel dual NNIBP-Adjacent site inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF