Development of a Cyclic Peptide Inhibitor of the p6/UEV Protein-Protein Interaction
- ACS Chem Biol. 2019 Sep 20;14(9):1874-1878. doi: 10.1021/acschembio.9b00627.
- 1. School of Chemistry , University of Southampton , Southampton , SO17 1BJ , United Kingdom.
The budding of HIV from infected cells is driven by the protein-protein interaction between the p6 domain of the HIV Gag protein and the UEV domain of the human TSG101 protein. We report the development of a cyclic peptide inhibitor of the p6/UEV interaction, from a non cell-permeable parent that was identified in a SICLOPPS screen. Amino acids critical for the activity of the parent cyclic peptide were uncovered using alanine-scanning, and a series of non-natural analogues synthesized and assessed. The most potent molecule disrupts the p6/UEV interaction with an IC50 of 6.17 ± 0.24 μM by binding to UEV with a Kd of 11.9 ± 2.8 μM. This compound is cell permeable and active in a cellular virus-like particle budding assay with an IC50 of ∼2 μM. This work further demonstrates the relative simplicity with which the potency and activity of cyclic peptides identified from SICLOPPS libraries can be optimized.