Fullerene derivatives with hydrophilic substituents have been shown to exhibit a range of biological activities, including antiviral ones. For a long time, the anti-HIV activity of fullerene derivatives was believed to be due to their binding into the hydrophobic pocket of HIV-1 protease, thereby blocking its activity. Recent work, however, brought new evidence of a novel, protease-independent mechanism of fullerene derivatives' action. We studied in more detail the mechanism of the anti-HIV-1 activity of N,N-dimethyl[70]fulleropyrrolidinium iodide fullerene derivatives. By using a combination of in vitro and cell-based approaches, we showed that these C70 derivatives inhibited neither HIV-1 protease nor HIV-1 maturation. Instead, our data indicate effects of fullerene C70 derivatives on viral genomic RNA packaging and HIV-1 cDNA synthesis during reverse transcription-without impairing reverse transcriptase activity though. Molecularly, this could be explained by a strong binding affinity of these fullerene derivatives to HIV-1 nucleocapsid domain, preventing its proper interaction with viral genomic RNA, thereby blocking reverse transcription and HIV-1 infectivity. Moreover, the fullerene derivatives' oxidative activity and fluorescence quenching, which could be one of the reasons for the inconsistency among reported anti-HIV-1 mechanisms, are discussed herein.

Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology University of Chemistry and Technology Prague Technická 5 166 28 Prague Czech Republic

Department of Biological Sciences University of Texas at El Paso 500 West University El Paso TX 79902 USA

Department of Biotechnology University of Chemistry and Technology Prague Technická 5 166 28 Prague Czech Republic

Department of Chemistry University of Texas at El Paso 500 West University El Paso TX 79902 USA

Laboratory of NMR Spectroscopy University of Chemistry and Technology Prague 166 28 Prague Czech Republic

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Viruses. 2022 May 30;14(6):1187. doi: 10.3390/v14061187. PubMed

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Correction: Křížová et al. Fullerene Derivatives Prevent Packaging of Viral Genomic RNA into HIV-1 Particles by Binding Nucleocapsid Protein. Viruses 2021, 13, 2451