SC29EK, a peptide fusion inhibitor with enhanced alpha-helicity, inhibits replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 mutants resistant to enfuvirtide.

Abstract:

Peptides derived from the alpha-helical domains of human ...
Peptides derived from the alpha-helical domains of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 (HIV-1) gp41 inhibit HIV-1 fusion to the cell membrane. Enfuvirtide (T-20) is a peptide-based drug that targets the step of HIV fusion, and as such, it effectively suppresses the replication of HIV-1 strains that are either wild type or resistant to multiple reverse transcriptase and/or protease inhibitors. However, HIV-1 variants with T-20 resistance have emerged; therefore, the development of new and potent inhibitors is urgently needed. We have developed a novel HIV fusion inhibitor, SC34EK, which is a gp41-derived 34-amino-acid peptide with glutamate (E) and lysine (K) substitutions on its solvent-accessible site that stabilize its alpha-helicity. Importantly, SC34EK effectively inhibits the replication of T-20-resistant HIV-1 strains as well as wild-type HIV-1. In this report, we introduce SC29EK, a 29-amino-acid peptide that is a shorter variant of SC34EK. SC29EK blocked the replication of T-20-resistant HIV-1 strains and maintained antiviral activity even in the presence of high serum concentrations (up to 50%). Circular dichroism analysis revealed that the alpha-helicity of SC29EK was well maintained, while that of the parental peptide, C29, which showed moderate and reduced inhibition of wild-type and T-20-resistant HIV-1 strains, was lower. Our results show that the alpha-helicity in a peptide-based fusion inhibitor is a key factor for activity and enables the design of short peptide inhibitors with improved pharmacological properties.

Polymerases:

Topics:

Status:

new topics/pols set partial results complete validated

Results:

No results available for this paper.

Entry validated by:

Using Polbase tables:

Sorting:

Tables may be sorted by clicking on any of the column titles. A second click reverses the sort order. <Ctrl> + click on the column titles to sort by more than one column (e.g. family then name).

Filtering:

It is also possible to filter the table by typing into the search box above the table. This will instantly hide lines from the table that do not contain your search text.