Abstract
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS3, when bound to NS-4A cofactor, facilitates development of mature virons by catalyzing cleavage of a polyprotein to form functional and structural proteins of HCV. The enzyme has a shallow binding pocket at the catalytic site, making development of inhibitors difficult. We have designed, preorganized, and depeptidized macrocyclic inhibitors from P(4) to P(2)' and optimized binding to 0.1 microM. The structure of an inhibitor bound to the enzyme was also solved.
MeSH terms
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Antiviral Agents / chemical synthesis*
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Antiviral Agents / chemistry
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Binding Sites
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Crystallography, X-Ray
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Drug Design
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Hepacivirus / enzymology*
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Hydrogen Bonding
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Macrocyclic Compounds / chemical synthesis*
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Macrocyclic Compounds / chemistry
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Models, Molecular
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Molecular Structure
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Peptides / chemistry*
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Protease Inhibitors / chemical synthesis*
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Protease Inhibitors / chemistry
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Protein Binding
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Structure-Activity Relationship
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Viral Nonstructural Proteins / antagonists & inhibitors*
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Viral Nonstructural Proteins / chemistry
Substances
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Antiviral Agents
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Macrocyclic Compounds
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NS3 protein, hepatitis C virus
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Peptides
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Protease Inhibitors
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Viral Nonstructural Proteins