Structure-Based Design of Nonpeptide Inhibitors Specific for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1 Protease

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 87; no. 17; pp. 6644 - 6648
• Main Authors: DesJarlais, R. L., Seibel, G. L., Kuntz, I. D., Furth, P. S., Alvarez, J. C., P. R. Ortiz de Montellano, DeCamp, D. L., Babé, L. M., Craik, C. S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 01-09-1990; National Acad Sciences
• Subjects: Active sites; Amino acids; Analytical, structural and metabolic biochemistry; Antipsychotic agents; Biological and medical sciences; Docks; Enzymes; Enzymes and enzyme inhibitors; Escherichia coli - genetics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Haloperidol - analogs & derivatives; Haloperidol - pharmacology; HIV 1; HIV 2; HIV-1 - enzymology; HIV-1 - genetics; HIV-2 - enzymology; human immunodeficiency virus 2; Hydrolases; Kinetics; Molecules; Peptide Hydrolases - genetics; Peptide Hydrolases - metabolism; Protease Inhibitors - pharmacology; Proteins; Recombinant Proteins - metabolism; Saccharomyces cerevisiae - genetics; Software; Virus; Human; Molecular structure; HIV-1 virus; Enzyme; Proteinase; Retroviridae; Enzyme inhibitor; Lentivirinae; Human immunodeficiency virus; Computer aid
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.87.17.6644

By using a structure-based computer-assisted search, we have found a butyrophenone derivative that is a selective inhibitor of the human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) protease. The computer program creates a negative image of the active site cavity using the crystal structure of the HIV-1 protease. This image was compared for steric complementarity with 10,000 molecules of the Cambridge Crystallographic Database. One of the most interesting candidates identified was bromperidol. Haloperidol, a closely related compound and known antipsychotic agent, was chosen for testing. Haloperidol inhibits the HIV-1 and HIV-2 proteases in a concentration-dependent fashion with a Kiof ≈ 100 μM. It is highly selective, having little inhibitory effect on pepsin activity and no effect on renin at concentrations as high as 5 mM. The hydroxy derivative of haloperidol has a similar effect on HIV-1 protease but a lower potency against the HIV-2 enzyme. Both haloperidol and its hydroxy derivative showed activity against maturation of viral polypeptides in a cell assay system. Although this discovery holds promise for the generation of nonpeptide protease inhibitors, we caution that the serum concentrations of haloperidol in normal use as an antipsychotic agent are <10ng/ml (0.03 μM). Thus, concentrations required to inhibit the HIV-1 protease are >1000 times higher than the concentrations normally used. Haloperidol is highly toxic at elevated doses and can be life-threatening. Haloperidol is not useful as a treatment for AIDS but may be a useful lead compound for the development of an antiviral pharmaceutical.