Structure-directed discovery of an inhibitor of the binding of HIV GP120 to the CD4 receptor

Iodoarene-Catalyzed Oxyamination of Unactivated Alkenes to Synthesize 5-Imino-2-Tetrahydrofuranyl Methanamine Derivatives

Reported here is the room-temperature metal-free iodoarene-catalyzed oxyamination of unactivated alkenes. In this process, the alkenes are difunctionalized by the oxygen atom of the amide group and the nitrogen in an exogenous HNTs₂ molecule. This mild and open-air reaction provided an efficient synthesis to N-bistosyl-substituted 5-imino-2-tetrahydrofuranyl methanamine derivatives, which are important motifs in drug development and biological studies. Mechanistic study based on experiments and density functional theory calculations showed that this transformation proceeds via activation of the substrate alkene by an in situ generated cationic iodonium(III) intermediate, which is subsequently attacked by an oxygen atom (instead of nitrogen) of amides to form a five-membered ring intermediate. Finally, this intermediate undergoes an S_N2 reaction by NTs₂ as the nucleophile to give the oxygen and nitrogen difunctionalized 5-imino-2-tetrahydrofuranyl methanamine product. An asymmetric variant of the present alkene oxyamination using chiral iodoarenes as catalysts also gave promising results for some of the substrates.

Discovery of 4-Benzoyl-1-[(4-methoxy-1H- pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridin-3-yl)oxoacetyl]-2- (R)-methylpiperazine (BMS-378806): A Novel HIV-1 Attachment Inhibitor That Interferes with CD4-gp120 Interactions

Indole derivative 1 interferes with the interaction of the HIV surface protein gp120 with the host cell receptor CD4. The 4-fluoro derivative 2 exhibited markedly enhanced potency and was bioavailable in the rat, dog, and cynomolgus monkey when administered orally as a solution formulation. However, aqueous suspensions of 2 were poorly bioavailable, indicative of dissolution-limited absorption. The 7-azaindole derivative 3, BMS-378806, exhibited improved pharmaceutical properties while retaining the HIV-1 inhibitory profile of 2.

Probability analysis of variational crystallization and its application to gp120, the exterior envelope glycoprotein of type 1 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1)

The extensive glycosylation and conformational mobility of gp120, the envelope glycoprotein of type 1 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1), pose formidable barriers for crystallization. To surmount these difficulties, we used probability analysis to determine the most effective crystallization approach and derive equations which show that a strategy, which we term variational crystallization, substantially enhances the overall probability of crystallization for gp120. Variational crystallization focuses on protein modification as opposed to crystallization screening. Multiple variants of gp120 were analyzed with an iterative cycle involving a limited set of crystallization conditions and biochemical feedback on protease sensitivity, glycosylation status, and monoclonal antibody binding. Sources of likely conformational heterogeneity such as N-linked carbohydrates, flexible or mobile N and C termini, and variable internal loops were reduced or eliminated, and ligands such as CD4 and antigen-binding fragments (Fabs) of monoclonal antibodies were used to restrict conformational mobility as well as to alter the crystallization surface. Through successive cycles of manipulation involving 18 different variants, we succeeded in growing six different types of gp120 crystals. One of these, a ternary complex composed of gp120, its receptor CD4, and the Fab of the human neutralizing monoclonal antibody 17b, diffracts to a minimum Bragg spacing of at least 2.2 A and is suitable for structural analysis.

A synthetic conformational epitope from the C4 domain of HIV Gp120 that binds CD4

The fourth conserved domain of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) envelope, the C4 region of glycoprotein 120 (gp120), is believed to be a major part of gp120 that is necessary for binding to CD4. Recently, we found that C4 in gp120 is probably an alpha-helix, because antibodies made against helical constructs of C4 react with native and recombinant gp120 but antibodies against linear C4 constructs do not. For the present study, we performed experiments to determine, first, if CD4 could bind to the helical C4 constructs and, second, if the binding was comparable with CD4 binding to gp120. Immobilized helical constructs derived from the C4s from HIV-1 and HIV-2 bound biotinylated recombinant CD4 with Kd values of 8.59 nM and 14.59 nM, respectively. Recombinant soluble CD4 inhibited the binding of biotinylated CD4 to the C4 construct from HIV-1 with a Kd of 9.88 nM, and recombinant gp120 blocked the binding of CD4 to the immobilized helical construct from C4 of HIV-1 with a Kd of 8.08 nM. The C4 peptide-(419-436) from HIV-1 (KIKQIINMWQEVGKAMYA-NH2) blocked CD4 binding to gp120 but only in a buffer containing 0.03% Brij 35 where the peptide displayed 17 +/- 1% alpha-helix; without the Brij 35, peptide-(419-436) displayed no helical content. The Kd for the peptide-(419-436) blocking CD4 binding to gp120 in Brij 35-containing buffer was found to be 42 microM. These results indicate that C4 constructs from HIV-1 and HIV-2 do bind CD4, but the constructs must display an alpha-helical conformation to do so. In addition, the results reported here will provide answers to key questions about structural requirements for HIV vaccines and therapeutics that hinge on understanding the molecular nature of the gp120-CD4 interaction as the first step in the HIV infection process.