Inhibitors of respiratory syncytial virus replication target cotranscriptional mRNA guanylylation by viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of respiratory illness in infants, immunocompromised patients, and the elderly. New antiviral agents would be important tools in the treatment of acute RSV disease. RSV encodes its own RNA-dependent RNA polymerase that is responsible for the synthesis of both genomic RNA and subgenomic mRNAs. The viral polymerase also cotranscriptionally caps and polyadenylates the RSV mRNAs at their 5' and 3' ends, respectively. We have previously reported the discovery of the first nonnucleoside transcriptase inhibitor of RSV polymerase through high-throughput screening. Here we report the design of inhibitors that have improved potency both in vitro and in antiviral assays and that also exhibit activity in a mouse model of RSV infection. We have isolated virus with reduced susceptibility to this class of inhibitors. The mutations conferring resistance mapped to a novel motif within the RSV L gene, which encodes the catalytic subunit of RSV polymerase. This motif is distinct from the catalytic region of the L protein and bears some similarity to the nucleotide binding domain within nucleoside diphosphate kinases. These findings lead to the hypothesis that this class of inhibitors may block synthesis of RSV mRNAs by inhibiting guanylylation of viral transcripts. We show that short transcripts produced in the presence of inhibitor in vitro do not contain a 5' cap but, instead, are triphosphorylated, confirming this hypothesis. These inhibitors constitute useful tools for elucidating the molecular mechanism of RSV capping and represent valid leads for the development of novel anti-RSV therapeutics.

Isolation and characterization of herpes simplex virus type 1 resistant to aminothiazolylphenyl-based inhibitors of the viral helicase-primase.

The aminothiazolylphenyl-containing compounds BILS 179 BS and BILS 45 BS are novel inhibitors of the herpes simplex virus helicase-primase with antiviral activity in vitro and in animal models of HSV disease. To verify the mechanism of antiviral action, resistant viruses were selected by serial passage or by single-step plaque selection of HSV-1 KOS in the presence of inhibitors. Three resistant isolates K138r3, K22r5, and K22r1 were found to be 38-, 316-, and 2500-fold resistant to BILS 22 BS, a potent analog of BILS 45 BS. All three viruses had growth properties in vitro similar to wild-type HSV-1 KOS but they were sensitive to acyclovir. Cutaneous and intra-cerebral inoculation of mice with K22r1 or K22r5 resulted in pathogenicity equivalent to that of HSV-1 KOS. Both isolates were fully competent for reactivation from latency following corneal inoculation. Helicase-primase purified from cells infected with resistant viruses showed decreased inhibition in an in vitro DNA-dependent ATPase assay that correlated well with antiviral resistance. Marker transfer experiments and DNA sequence analysis identified single base pair mutations clustered in the N-terminus of the UL5 gene that resulted in single amino acid changes in the UL5 protein. Taken together, the results indicate that helicase-primase inhibitors prevent HSV growth by inhibiting HSV helicase-primase through specific interaction with the UL5 protein.

A yew in Israel, new taxane derivatives.

Five new taxanes, 5alpha,9alpha,10beta,13alpha-tetraacetoxy-14beta-O-(beta-d-glucopyranosyl)taxa-4(20),11-diene (1), 1beta,2alpha,9alpha,10beta-tetrahydroxy-5alpha-cinnamoyoxytaxa-4(20),11-dien-13-one (2), 2alpha,9alpha,10beta-trihydroxy-5alpha-cinnamoyoxytaxa-4(20),11-dien-13-one (3), 9alpha-acetoxy-2alpha,10beta-dihydroxy-5alpha-cinnamoyoxytaxa-4(20),11-dien-13-one (4), and 2alpha,10beta-diacetoxy-1beta,9alpha-dihydroxy-5alpha-cinnamoyoxy-3,11-cyclotaxa-4(20)-dien-13-one (5), have been identified in a Taxus baccata yew grown in Israel from seeds imported from the United States. We have also characterized 40 previously known taxanes from this plant material. The structures of the new taxanes (1-5) were rigorously established with 1D and 2D NMR data and confirmed by high-resolution FAB-mass spectrometry.