Design, synthesis, in vitro and in silico studies of novel 4-oxoquinoline ribonucleoside derivatives as HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitors

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is a public health problem that affects over 38 million people worldwide. Although there are highly active antiretroviral therapies, emergence of Antiviral resistant strains is a problem which leads to almost a million death annually. Thus, the development of new drugs is necessary. The viral enzyme Reverse Transcriptase (RT) represents a validated therapeutic target. Because the oxoquinolinic scaffold has substantial biological activities, including antiretroviral, a new series of 4-oxoquinoline ribonucleoside derivatives obtained by molecular hybridization were studied here. All synthesized compounds were tested against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Reverse Transcriptase (HIV-1 RT), and 9a and 9d displayed the highest Antiviral activities, with IC₅₀ values of 1.4 and 1.6 μM, respectively. These compounds were less cytotoxic than AZT and showed CC₅₀ values of 1486 and 1394 μM, respectively. Molecular docking studies showed that the most active compounds bound to the allosteric site of the Enzyme, suggesting a low susceptibility to the development of Antiviral resistance. In silico pharmacokinetic and toxicological evaluations reinforced the potential of the active compounds as anti-HIV candidates for further exploration. Overall, this work showed that compounds 9a and 9d are promising scaffold for future anti-HIV-1 RT drug design.