Highly potent synthetic polyamides, bisdistamycins, and lexitropsins as inhibitors of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 integrase.

Alignment of the available human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) viral DNA termini [U5 and U3 long terminal repeats (LTRs)] shows a high degree of conservation and the presence of a stretch of five or six consecutive adenine and thymine (AT) sequences approximately 10 nucleotides away from each LTR end. A series of AT-selective minor-groove binders, including distamycin and bisdistamycins, bisnetropsins, novel lexitropsins, and the classic monomeric DNA binders Hoechst 33258, 4'-diamino-2-phenylindole, pentamidine, berenil, spermine, and spermidine, were tested for their inhibitory activities against HIV-1 integrase (IN). Although netropsin, distamycin, and all other monomeric DNA binders showed weak activities in the range of 50-200 microM, some of the polyamides, bisdistamycins, and lexitropsins were remarkably active at nanomolar concentrations. Bisdistamycins were 200 times less potent when the conserved AAAAT stretch present in the U5 LTR was replaced with GGGGG, consistent with the preferred binding of these drugs to AT sequences. DNase I footprinting of the U5 LTR further demonstrated the selectivity of these bisdistamycins for the conserved AT sequence. The tested compounds were more potent in Mg+2 than in Mn+2 and inhibited IN50-212 deletion mutant in disintegration assays and the formation of IN/DNA complexes. The lexitropsins also were active against HIV-2 IN. Some of the synthetic polyamides exhibited significant antiviral activity. Taken together, these data suggest that selective targeting of the U5 and U3 ends of the HIV-1 LTRs can inhibit IN function. Polyamides might represent new leads for the development of antiviral agents against acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Isolation and characterization of an oligomerization-negative mutant of HIV-1 integrase.

The yeast two-hybrid method was used to screen mutagenized DNAs to isolate a variant of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 integrase (IN) that does not interact with the wild-type IN. The responsible mutation, leading to a single amino acid change (V260E) in the C-terminal domain of IN, blocks IN-IN multimerization but has only small effect on binding to a host interacting protein, INI1 (hSNF5). Binding studies in vitro confirmed the defect in multimerization of the mutant IN. Biochemical analyses of the mutant IN enzyme expressed in bacteria detected only subtle changes in its properties, suggesting that the yeast system is a sensitive reporter of correct IN conformation. Mutant virus carrying the V260E substitution was blocked in replication at the time of DNA integration, consistent with IN multimerization being important for its activity in vivo.

DNA-induced polymerization of HIV-1 integrase analyzed with fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) integrase is essential for viral replication. Integrase inserts the viral DNA into the host DNA. We studied the association of integrase to fluorescently labeled oligonucleotides using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. The binding of integrase to the fluorescent oligonucleotides resulted in the appearance of bright spikes during fluorescence correlation spectroscopy measurements. These spikes arise from the formation of high molecular mass protein-DNA complexes. The fluorescence of the free DNA was separated from the spikes with a statistical method. From the decrease of the concentration of free oligonucleotides, a site association constant was determined. The DNA-protein complexes were formed rapidly in a salt-dependent manner with site association constants ranging between 5 and 40 microm(-1) under different conditions. We also analyzed the kinetics of the DNA-protein complex assembly and the effect of different buffer components. The formation of the fluorescent protein-DNA complex was inhibited by guanosine quartets, and the inhibition constant was determined at 1.8 +/- 0.6 x 10(8) m(-1). Displacement of bound DNA with G-quartets allowed the determination of the dissociation rate constant and proves the reversibility of the association process.

Polyanionic (i.e., polysulfonate) dendrimers can inhibit the replication of human immunodeficiency virus by interfering with both virus adsorption and later steps (reverse transcriptase/integrase) in the virus replicative cycle.

Polyanionic dendrimers were synthesized and evaluated for their antiviral effects. Phenyldicarboxylic acid (BRI6195) and naphthyldisulfonic acid (BRI2923) dendrimers were found to inhibit the replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1; strain III(B)) in MT-4 cells at a EC(50) of 0.1 and 0.3 microg/ml, respectively. The dendrimers were not toxic to MT-4 cells up to the highest concentrations tested (250 microg/ml). These compounds were also effective against various other HIV-1 strains, including clinical isolates, HIV-2 strains, simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV, strain MAC(251)), and HIV-1 strains that were resistant to reverse transcriptase inhibitors. HIV strains containing mutations in the envelope glycoprotein gp120 (engendering resistance to known adsorption inhibitors) displayed reduced sensitivity to the dendrimers. The compounds inhibited the binding of wild-type virus and recombinant virus (containing wild-type gp120) to MT-4 cells at concentrations comparable to those that inhibited the replication of HIV-1(III(B)) in these cells. Cellular uptake studies indicated that BRI2923, but not BRI6195, permeates into MT-4 and CEM cells. Accordingly, the naphtyldisulfonic acid dendrimer (BRI2923) proved able to inhibit later steps of the replication cycle of HIV, i.e., reverse transcriptase and integrase. NL4.3 strains resistant to BRI2923 were selected after passage of the virus in the presence of increasing concentrations of BRI2923. The virus mutants showed 15-fold reduced sensitivity to BRI2923 and cross-resistance to known adsorption inhibitors. However, these virus mutants were not cross-resistant to reverse transcriptase inhibitors or protease inhibitors. We identified several mutations in the envelope glycoprotein gp120 gene (i.e., V2, V3, and C3, V4, and C4 regions) of the BRI2923-resistant NL4.3 strains that were not present in the wild-type NL4.3 strain, whereas no mutations were found in the reverse transcriptase or integrase genes.