Simplistic perylene-related compounds as inhibitors of tick-borne encephalitis virus reproduction.

Rigid amphipathic fusion inhibitors are potent broad-spectrum antivirals based on the perylene scaffold, usually decorated with a hydrophilic group linked via ethynyl or triazole. We have sequentially simplified these structures by removing sugar moiety, then converting uridine to aniline, then moving to perylenylthiophenecarboxylic acids and to perylenylcarboxylic acid. All these polyaromatic compounds, as well as antibiotic heliomycin, still showed pronounced activity against tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) with limited toxicity in porcine embryo kidney (PEK) cell line. 5-(Perylen-3-yl)-2-thiophenecarboxylic acid (5a) showed the highest antiviral activity with 50% effective concentration of approx. 1.6 nM.

Phenoxazine nucleoside derivatives with a multiple activity against RNA and DNA viruses.

Emerging and re-emerging viruses periodically cause outbreaks and epidemics all over the world, eventually leading to global events such as the current pandemic of the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection COVID-19. Therefore, an urgent need for novel antivirals is crystal clear. Here we present the synthesis and evaluation of an antiviral activity of phenoxazine-based nucleoside analogs divided into three groups: (1) 8-alkoxy-substituted, (2) acyclic, and (3) carbocyclic. The antiviral activity was assessed against a structurally and phylogenetically diverse panel of RNA and DNA viruses from 25 species. Four compounds (11a-c, 12c) inhibited 4 DNA/RNA viruses with EC50 ≤ 20 µM. Toxicity of the compounds for the cell lines used for virus cultivation was negligible in most cases. In addition, previously reported and newly synthesized phenoxazine derivatives were evaluated against SARS-CoV-2, and some of them showed promising inhibition of reproduction with EC50 values in low micromolar range, although accompanied by commensurate cytotoxicity.

Complex approach for analysis of snake venom α-neurotoxins binding to HAP, the high-affinity peptide.

Snake venom α-neurotoxins, invaluable pharmacological tools, bind with high affinity to distinct subtypes of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. The combinatorial high-affinity peptide (HAP), homologous to the C-loop of α1 and α7 nAChR subunits, binds biotinylated α-bungarotoxin (αBgt) with nanomolar affinity and might be a protection against snake-bites. Since there are no data on HAP interaction with other toxins, we checked its binding of α-cobratoxin (αCtx), similar to αBgt in action on nAChRs. Using radioiodinated αBgt, we confirmed a high affinity of HAP for αBgt, the complex formation is supported by mass spectrometry and gel chromatography, but only weak binding was registered with αCtx. A combination of protein intrinsic fluorescence measurements with the principal component analysis of the spectra allowed us to measure the HAP-αBgt binding constant directly (29 nM). These methods also confirmed weak HAP interaction with αCtx (>10000 nM). We attempted to enhance it by modification of HAP structure relying on the known structures of α-neurotoxins with various targets and applying molecular dynamics. A series of HAP analogues have been synthesized, HAP[L9E] analogue being considerably more potent than HAP in αCtx binding (7000 nM). The proposed combination of experimental and computational approaches appears promising for analysis of various peptide-protein interactions.