A New Lead for Nonpeptidic Active-Site-Directed Inhibitors of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Main Protease Discovered by a Combination of Screening and Docking Methods
作者:Ulrich Kaeppler、Nikolaus Stiefl、Markus Schiller、Radim Vicik、Alexander Breuning、Werner Schmitz、Daniel Rupprecht、Carsten Schmuck、Knut Baumann、John Ziebuhr、Tanja Schirmeister
DOI:10.1021/jm0501782
日期:2005.11.1
The coronavirus main protease, M-pro, is considered to be a major target for drugs suitable for combating coronavirus infections including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). An HPLC-based screening of electrophilic compounds that was performed to identify potential M-pro inhibitors revealed etacrynic acid tert-butylamide (6a) as an effective nonpeptidic inhibitor. Docking studies suggested a binding mode in which the phenyl ring acts as a spacer bridging the inhibitor's activated double bond and its hydrophobic tert-butyl moiety. The latter is supposed to fit into the S4 pocket of the target protease. Furthermore, these studies revealed etacrynic acid amide (6b) as a promising lead for nonpeptidic active-site-directed M-pro inhibitors. In a fluorimetric enzyme assay using a novel fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) pair labeled substrate, compound 6b showed a K-i value of 35.3 mu M. Since the novel lead compound does not target the S1', S1, and S2 subsites of the enzyme's substrate-binding pockets, there is room for improvement that underlines the lead character of compound 6b.