ABSTRACT
Despite the availability of >30 effective drugs for managing HIV-1 infection, no current therapy is curative, and long-term management is challenging owing to the emergence and spread of drug-resistant mutants. Identification of drugs against novel HIV-1 targets would expand the current treatment options and help to control resistance. The highly conserved HIV-1 capsid protein represents an attractive target because of its multiple roles in replication of the virus. However, the low antiviral potencies of the reported HIV-1 capsid–targeting inhibitors render them unattractive for therapeutic development. To facilitate the identification of more-potent HIV-1 capsid inhibitors, we developed a scintillation proximity assay to screen for small molecules that target a biologically active and specific intersubunit interface in the HIV-1 capsid. The assay, which is based on competitive displacement of a known capsid-binding small-molecule inhibitor, exhibited a signal-to-noise ratio of >9 and a Z factor of >0.8. In a pilot screen of a chemical library containing 2,400 druglike compounds, we obtained a hit rate of 1.8%. This assay has properties that are suitable for screening large compound libraries to identify novel HIV-1 capsid ligands with antiviral activity.
摘要
尽管目前已有 30 种有效的药物可用于控制 HIV-1 感染,但目前的任何疗法都无法根治,而且由于耐药性突变体的出现和传播,长期管理也面临挑战。确定针对新型 HIV-1 靶点的药物将扩大目前的治疗选择范围,并有助于控制耐药性。高度保守的 HIV-1 外壳蛋白是一个具有吸引力的靶点,因为它在病毒复制过程中发挥着多重作用。然而,已报道的 HIV-1 荚膜靶向抑制剂的抗病毒效力较低,使其在治疗开发方面缺乏吸引力。为了便于鉴定更有效的 HIV-1 荚膜抑制剂,我们开发了一种闪烁接近测定法,以筛选针对 HIV-1 荚膜中具有生物活性的特定亚基间界面的小分子。该测定法基于对已知噬菌体结合小分子抑制剂的竞争性置换,其信噪比为9,Z因子为0.8。在对包含 2,400 种类药化合物的化学库进行的试验筛选中,我们获得了 1.8% 的命中率。这种检测方法的特性适用于筛选大型化合物库,以确定具有抗病毒活性的新型 HIV-1 荚膜配体。