Braun NJ, Quek JP, Huber S, Kouretova J, Rogge D, Lang‐Henkel H, Cheong EZK, Chew BLA, Heine A, Luo D, Steinmetzer T. Structure-Based Macrocyclization of Substrate Analogue NS2B-NS3 Protease Inhibitors of Zika, West Nile and Dengue viruses.
ChemMedChem 2020;
15:1439-1452. [PMID:
32501637 PMCID:
PMC7497253 DOI:
10.1002/cmdc.202000237]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
A series of cyclic active-site-directed inhibitors of the NS2B-NS3 proteases from Zika (ZIKV), West Nile (WNV), and dengue-4 (DENV4) viruses has been designed. The most potent compounds contain a reversely incorporated d-lysine residue in the P1 position. Its side chain is connected to the P2 backbone, its α-amino group is converted into a guanidine to interact with the conserved Asp129 side chain in the S1 pocket, and its C terminus is connected to the P3 residue via different linker segments. The most potent compounds inhibit the ZIKV protease with Ki values <5 nM. Crystal structures of seven ZIKV protease inhibitor complexes were determined to support the inhibitor design. All the cyclic compounds possess high selectivity against trypsin-like serine proteases and furin-like proprotein convertases. Both WNV and DENV4 proteases are inhibited less efficiently. Nonetheless, similar structure-activity relationships were observed for these enzymes, thus suggesting their potential application as pan-flaviviral protease inhibitors.
Collapse