Novel broad-spectrum thiourea non-nucleoside inhibitors for the prevention of mucosal HIV transmission

Non-nucleoside inhibitors of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (NNRTI) are an integral part of combination therapy comprising three classes of antiretroviral drugs for the management of HIV/AIDS. NNRTIs are chemically diverse compounds that bind to a common allosteric site of HIV-1 RT and noncompetitively inhibit DNA polymerization. Resistance to NNRTIs arises rapidly upon drug treatment and results from mutation of the amino acids lining the HIV-1 RT binding pocket. Nevertheless, rationally designed NNRTIs deduced from changes in binding pocket size, shape, and residue character that result from clinically observed NNRTI resistance mutations exhibit broad-spectrum anti-HIV-1 activity. Notably, membrane permeable tight binding NNRTIs have utility as topical microbicides since they are capable of blocking cell-free and cell-associated mucosal HIV-1 infection without metabolic activation. This review summarizes the discovery of highly potent tight binding phenethyl-thiazolyl-thiourea (PETT) derivatives targeting the NNI binding pocket of HIV-1 RT. These NNRTIs were rationally designed by molecular docking using a composite binding pocket constructed by superimposing the crystal structure coordinate data of several NNI/RT ligand-binding site complexes. Molecular modeling and score functions such as molecular surface area, the buried surface, and binding affinity values were used to analyze how drug-resistant mutations would change the RT binding pocket shape, volume, and chemical make-up of these NNRTIs, and how these changes could affect drug binding. Several ligand derivatization sites were identified for docked compounds that fit the binding pocket. The best fit was determined by calculating an inhibition-constant (Ludi K-i) of the docked compound for the composite binding pocket. Compounds with a Ludi K-i of < 1 mu M were identified as the most promising tight binding NNRTIs. This review highlights novel lipophilic thiourea NNRTIs that display high binding affinity and selective indices with robust anti-HIV-1 activity against the wild type as well as drug-resistant isolates carrying multiple RT gene mutations. The increasing prevalence of drug-escape mutants among recent HIV seroconverters makes the discovery of these broad-spectrum thiourea NNRTIs useful as a component of topical microbicide for the prevention of mucosal HIV transmission.