Author:

Keywords:

Anti-HIV Agents, Cell Line, Combinatorial Chemistry Techniques, Dimerization, HIV-1, HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase, Humans, Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors, Spiro Compounds, Structure-Activity Relationship, Thymidine, Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Chemistry, Medicinal, Pharmacology & Pharmacy, POTENTIAL MULTIFUNCTIONAL INHIBITORS, TSAO-T DERIVATIVES, ANTI-HIV-1 ACTIVITY, SYNTHETIC PEPTIDES, NUCLEOSIDE ANALOGS, INTERFACE, IDENTIFICATION, RESISTANCE, SUBUNITS, FAMILY, HIV Reverse Transcriptase, Uridine, 0304 Medicinal and Biomolecular Chemistry, 0305 Organic Chemistry, 1115 Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Medicinal & Biomolecular Chemistry, 3214 Pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences, 3404 Medicinal and biomolecular chemistry, 3405 Organic chemistry

Abstract:

The polymerase activity of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) is entirely dependent on the heterodimeric structure of the enzyme. Accordingly, RT dimerization represents a target for the development of a new therapeutic class of HIV inhibitors. We previously demonstrated that the N-3-ethyl derivative of 2',5'-bis-O-(tert-butyldimethylsilyl)-beta-D-ribofuranosyl]-3'-spiro-5' '-(4' '-amino-1' ',2' '-oxathiole-2' ',2' '-dioxide)thymine (TSAO-T) destabilizes the inter-subunit interactions of HIV-1 RT [Sluis-Cremer, N.; Dmietrinko, G. I.; Balzarini, J.; Camarasa, M.-J.; Parniak, M. A. Biochemistry 2000, 39, 1427-1433]. In the current study, we evaluated the ability of 64 TSAO-T derivatives to inhibit RT dimerization using a novel screening assay. Five derivatives were identified with improved activity compared to TSAO-T. Four of these harbored hydrophilic or aromatic substituents at the N3 position. Furthermore, a good correlation between the ability of the TSAO-T derivatives to inhibit RT dimerization and the enzyme's polymerase activity was also observed. This study provides an important framework for the rational design of more potent inhibitors of RT dimerization.