Inhibiting HTLV-1 Protease: A Viable Antiviral Target.
Gordon J LockbaumMina HenesNathaniel TalledgeLinah N RusereKlajdi KosovrastiEllen A NalivaikaMohan SomasundaranAkbar AliLouis M ManskyNese Kurt YilmazCelia A SchifferPublished in: ACS chemical biology (2021)
Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is a retrovirus that can cause severe paralytic neurologic disease and immune disorders as well as cancer. An estimated 20 million people worldwide are infected with HTLV-1, with prevalence reaching 30% in some parts of the world. In stark contrast to HIV-1, no direct acting antivirals (DAAs) exist against HTLV-1. The aspartyl protease of HTLV-1 is a dimer similar to that of HIV-1 and processes the viral polyprotein to permit viral maturation. We report that the FDA-approved HIV-1 protease inhibitor darunavir (DRV) inhibits the enzyme with 0.8 μM potency and provides a scaffold for drug design against HTLV-1. Analogs of DRV that we designed and synthesized achieved submicromolar inhibition against HTLV-1 protease and inhibited Gag processing in viral maturation assays and in a chronically HTLV-1 infected cell line. Cocrystal structures of these inhibitors with HTLV-1 protease highlight opportunities for future inhibitor design. Our results show promise toward developing highly potent HTLV-1 protease inhibitors as therapeutic agents against HTLV-1 infections.
Keyphrases
- antiretroviral therapy
- human immunodeficiency virus
- hiv infected
- hiv positive
- sars cov
- hepatitis c virus
- hiv testing
- computed tomography
- magnetic resonance imaging
- emergency department
- hiv aids
- magnetic resonance
- high throughput
- mass spectrometry
- machine learning
- young adults
- risk factors
- high resolution
- south africa
- early onset
- big data
- hiv infected patients
- pluripotent stem cells