Investigation into the mode of action of R-91650, an arylpiperazinyl fluoroquinolone, on feline immunodeficiency virus replication inhibitory activity

The mode of action of R-91650, an arylpiperazinyl fluoroquinolone, on feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) replication inhibitory activity was investigated. R-91650 inhibited replication of FIV at non-cytotoxic concentration levels in both acutely infected peripheral blood mononuclear cells and chronically infected P-CrFK cells. The compound reduced the intracellular p24 concentration levels in P-CrFK cells in a dose-dependent manner. Northern blot analysis revealed that R-91650 selectively prevented the accumulation of FIV mRNA in P-CrFK cells. However, the compound did not inhibit FIV-long terminal repeat (LTR) promoter activity in the reporter gene expression analysis. These data suggest that R-91650 is a novel inhibitor of FIV replication that inhibits a certain step or steps following transcription initiation of the FIV-LTR promoter.