Exploratory studies on CA-15L, an anti-HIV active HIV-1 capsid fragment

  • Bioorg Med Chem. 2020 Jun 1;28(11):115488. doi: 10.1016/j.bmc.2020.115488.
Kohei Tsuji  1 Kofi Baffour-Awuah Owusu  2 Takuya Kobayakawa  1 Rongyi Wang  1 Masayuki Fujino  3 Moemi Kaneko  1 Naoki Yamamoto  4 Tsutomu Murakami  5 Hirokazu Tamamura  6
Affiliations
  • 1. Institute of Biomaterials and Bioengineering, Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU), 2-3-10 Kandasurugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0062, Japan.
  • 2. Institute of Biomaterials and Bioengineering, Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU), 2-3-10 Kandasurugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0062, Japan; Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU), 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8150, Japan.
  • 3. AIDS Research Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, 1-23-1 Toyama, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan.
  • 4. Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117597, Singapore.
  • 5. AIDS Research Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, 1-23-1 Toyama, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 6. Institute of Biomaterials and Bioengineering, Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU), 2-3-10 Kandasurugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0062, Japan; Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU), 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8150, Japan. Electronic address: [email protected].
Abstract

Utilizing overlapping fragment peptide libraries covering the whole sequence of an HIV-1 capsid (CA) protein with the addition of an octa-arginyl moiety, we had previously found several peptides with anti-HIV-1 activity. Herein, among these potent CA fragment peptides, CA-15L was examined because this peptide sequence overlaps with Helix 7, a helix region of the CA protein, which may be important for oligomerization of the CA proteins. A CA-15L surrogate with hydrophilic residues, and its derivatives, in which amino acid sequences are shifted toward the C-terminus by one or more residues, were synthesized and their anti-HIV activity was evaluated. In addition, its derivatives with substitution for the Ser149 residue were synthesized and their anti-HIV activity was evaluated because Ser149 might be phosphorylated in the step of degradation of CA protein oligomers. Several active compounds were found and might become new anti-HIV agents and new tools for elucidation of CA functions.

Keywords
Anti-HIV-1 activity; Capsid protein; Hydrophilic residue; Octa-arginyl group.