Jay F. Davies

Using a combination of iterative structure-based design and an analysis of oral pharmacokinetics and antiviral activity, AG1343 (Viracept, nelfinavir mesylate), a nonpeptidic inhibitor of HIV-1 protease, was identified. AG1343 is a potent enzyme inhibitor (Ki = 2 nM) and antiviral agent (HIV-1 ED50 = 14 nM). An X-ray cocrystal structure of the enzyme-AG1343 complex reveals how the novel thiophenyl ether and phenol-amide substituents of the inhibitor interact with the S1 and S2 subsites of HIV-1 protease, respectively. In vivo studies indicate that AG1343 is well absorbed orally in a variety of species and possesses favorable pharmacokinetic properties in humans. AG1343 (Viracept) has recently been approved for marketing for the treatment of AIDS.

The crystal structure of the ribonuclease (RNase) H domain of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) has been determined at a resolution of 2.4 A and refined to a crystallographic R factor of 0.20. The protein folds into a five-stranded mixed beta sheet flanked by an asymmetric distribution of four alpha helices. Two divalent metal cations bind in the active site surrounded by a cluster of four conserved acidic amino acid residues. The overall structure is similar in most respects to the RNase H from Escherichia coli. Structural features characteristic of the retroviral protein suggest how it may interface with the DNA polymerase domain of p66 in the mature RT heterodimer. These features also offer insights into why the isolated RNase H domain is catalytically inactive but when combined in vitro with the isolated p51 domain of RT RNase H activity can be reconstituted. Surprisingly, the peptide bond cleaved by HIV-1 protease near the polymerase-RNase H junction of p66 is completely inaccessible to solvent in the structure reported here. This suggests that the homodimeric p66-p66 precursor of mature RT is asymmetric with one of the two RNase H domains at least partially unfolded.

with suitable pharmaceutical properties to warrant further development as an intravenous treatment for COVID-19.

The 2.3-A crystal structure of recombinant human dihydrofolate reductase (EC 1.5.1.3, DHFR) has been solved as a binary complex with folate (a poor substrate at neutral pH) and also as a binary complex with an inhibitor, 5-deazafolate. The inhibitor appears to be protonated at N8 on binding, whereas folate is not. Rotation of the peptide plane joining I7 and V8 from its position in the folate complex permits hydrogen bonding of 5-deazafolate's protonated N8 to the backbone carbonyl of I7, thus contributing to the enzyme's greater affinity for 5-deazafolate than for folate. In this respect it is likely that bound 5-deazafolate furnishes a model for 7,8-dihydrofolate binding and, in addition, resembles the transition state for folate reduction. A hypothetical transition-state model for folate reduction, generated by superposition of the DHFR binary complexes human.5-deazafolate and chicken liver.NADPH, reveals a 1-A overlap of the binding sites for folate's pteridine ring and the dihydronicotinamide ring of NADPH. It is proposed that this binding-site overlap accelerates the reduction of both folate and 7,8-dihydrofolate by simultaneously binding substrate and cofactor with a sub van der Waals separation that is optimal for hydride transfer.