Some medically important viruses-including retroviruses, flaviviruses, coronaviruses, and herpesviruses-code for a protease, which is indispensable for viral maturation and pathogenesis. Viral protease inhibitors have become an important class of antiviral drugs. Development of the first-in-class viral protease inhibitor saquinavir, which targets HIV protease, started a new era in the treatment of chronic viral diseases. Combining several drugs that target different steps of the viral life cycle enables use of lower doses of individual drugs (and thereby reduction of potential side effects, which frequently occur during long term therapy) and reduces drug-resistance development. Currently, several HIV and HCV protease inhibitors are routinely used in clinical practice. In addition, a drug including an inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 main protease, nirmatrelvir (co-administered with a pharmacokinetic booster ritonavir as Paxlovid®), was recently authorized for emergency use. This review summarizes the basic features of the proteases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and SARS-CoV-2 and discusses the properties of their inhibitors in clinical use, as well as development of compounds in the pipeline.

• MeSH
• antivirové látky farmakologie   terapeutické užití   MeSH
• COVID-19 * MeSH
• HIV infekce * farmakoterapie   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• SARS-CoV-2 MeSH
• virové proteasy MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• přehledy MeSH
• Názvy látek
• antivirové látky MeSH
• nirmatrelvir and ritonavir drug combination MeSH Prohlížeč
• virové proteasy MeSH

High-pressure methods have become an interesting tool of investigation of structural stability of proteins. They are used to study protein unfolding, but dissociation of oligomeric proteins can be addressed this way, too. HIV-1 protease, although an interesting object of biophysical experiments, has not been studied at high pressure yet. In this study HIV-1 protease is investigated by high pressure (up to 600 MPa) fluorescence spectroscopy of either the inherent tryptophan residues or external 8-anilino-1-naphtalenesulfonic acid at 25°C. A fast concentration-dependent structural transition is detected that corresponds to the dimer-monomer equilibrium. This transition is followed by a slow concentration independent transition that can be assigned to the monomer unfolding. In the presence of a tight-binding inhibitor none of these transitions are observed, which confirms the stabilizing effect of inhibitor. High-pressure enzyme kinetics (up to 350 MPa) also reveals the stabilizing effect of substrate. Unfolding of the protease can thus proceed only from the monomeric state after dimer dissociation and is unfavourable at atmospheric pressure. Dimer-destabilizing effect of high pressure is caused by negative volume change of dimer dissociation of -32.5 mL/mol. It helps us to determine the atmospheric pressure dimerization constant of 0.92 μM. High-pressure methods thus enable the investigation of structural phenomena that are difficult or impossible to measure at atmospheric pressure.

• MeSH
• anilin-naftalen sulfonáty metabolismus   MeSH
• atmosférický tlak MeSH
• darunavir metabolismus   MeSH
• dimerizace MeSH
• fluorescenční spektrometrie MeSH
• HIV-proteasa chemie   metabolismus   MeSH
• inhibitory HIV-proteasy metabolismus   MeSH
• kinetika MeSH
• konformace proteinů MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• molekulární modely MeSH
• multimerizace proteinu MeSH
• sbalování proteinů * MeSH
• stabilita proteinů účinky léků   MeSH
• termodynamika MeSH
• tryptofan metabolismus   MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• 1-anilino-8-naphthalenesulfonate MeSH Prohlížeč
• anilin-naftalen sulfonáty MeSH
• darunavir MeSH
• HIV-proteasa MeSH
• inhibitory HIV-proteasy MeSH
• p16 protease, Human immunodeficiency virus 1 MeSH Prohlížeč
• tryptofan MeSH

BACKGROUND: Apoptosis is one of the presumptive causes of CD4+ T cell depletion during HIV infection and progression to AIDS. However, the precise role of HIV-1 in this process remains unexplained. HIV-1 protease (PR) has been suggested as a possible factor, but a direct link between HIV-1 PR enzymatic activity and apoptosis has not been established. RESULTS: Here, we show that expression of active HIV-1 PR induces death in HeLa and HEK-293 cells via the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. This conclusion is based on in vivo observations of the direct localization of HIV-1 PR in mitochondria, a key player in triggering apoptosis. Moreover, we observed an HIV-1 PR concentration-dependent decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential and the role of HIV-1 PR in activation of caspase 9, PARP cleavage and DNA fragmentation. In addition, in vitro data demonstrated that HIV-1 PR mediates cleavage of mitochondrial proteins Tom22, VDAC and ANT, leading to release of AIF and Hsp60 proteins. By using yeast two-hybrid screening, we also identified a new HIV-1 PR interaction partner, breast carcinoma-associated protein 3 (BCA3). We found that BCA3 accelerates p53 transcriptional activity on the bax promoter, thus elevating the cellular level of pro-apoptotic Bax protein. CONCLUSION: In summary, our results describe the involvement of HIV-1 PR in apoptosis, which is caused either by a direct effect of HIV-1 PR on mitochondrial membrane integrity or by its interaction with cellular protein BCA3.

• MeSH
• adaptorové proteiny signální transdukční genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• apoptóza genetika   MeSH
• buněčné linie MeSH
• CD4-pozitivní T-lymfocyty metabolismus   MeSH
• fragmentace DNA MeSH
• HEK293 buňky MeSH
• HeLa buňky MeSH
• HIV infekce genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• HIV-1 genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• HIV-proteasa genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• jaderné proteiny genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mitochondriální proteiny genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• mitochondrie genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• nádorové buněčné linie MeSH
• nádorový supresorový protein p53 genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• promotorové oblasti (genetika) genetika   MeSH
• protein X asociovaný s bcl-2 genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• adaptorové proteiny signální transdukční MeSH
• AKIP1 protein, human MeSH Prohlížeč
• BAX protein, human MeSH Prohlížeč
• HIV-proteasa MeSH
• jaderné proteiny MeSH
• mitochondriální proteiny MeSH
• nádorový supresorový protein p53 MeSH
• p16 protease, Human immunodeficiency virus 1 MeSH Prohlížeč
• protein X asociovaný s bcl-2 MeSH
• TP53 protein, human MeSH Prohlížeč

Insertions in the protease (PR) region of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) represent an interesting mechanism of antiviral resistance against HIV PR inhibitors (PIs). Here, we demonstrate the improved ability of a phosphonate-containing experimental HIV PI, GS-8374, relative to that of other PIs, to effectively inhibit patient-derived recombinant HIV strains bearing PR insertions and numerous other mutations. We correlate enzyme inhibition with the catalytic activities of corresponding recombinant PRs in vitro and provide a biochemical and structural analysis of the PR-inhibitor complex.

• MeSH
• HIV infekce farmakoterapie   virologie   MeSH
• HIV-1 chemie   účinky léků   enzymologie   genetika   MeSH
• HIV-proteasa chemie   genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• inhibitory HIV-proteasy chemie   farmakologie   MeSH
• inzerční mutageneze * MeSH
• krystalografie rentgenová MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• molekulární modely MeSH
• organofosfonáty analýza   MeSH
• sekvence aminokyselin MeSH
• vazebná místa MeSH
• virová léková rezistence MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• HIV-proteasa MeSH
• inhibitory HIV-proteasy MeSH
• organofosfonáty MeSH
• p16 protease, Human immunodeficiency virus 1 MeSH Prohlížeč

The design, development and clinical success of HIV protease inhibitors represent one of the most remarkable achievements of molecular medicine. This review describes all nine currently available FDA-approved protease inhibitors, discusses their pharmacokinetic properties, off-target activities, side-effects, and resistance profiles. The compounds in the various stages of clinical development are also introduced, as well as alternative approaches, aiming at other functional domains of HIV PR. The potential of these novel compounds to open new way to the rational drug design of human viruses is critically assessed.

• Klíčová slova
• HAART, HIV protease, alternative inhibitors, pharmacokinetic boosting, protease dimerization, protease inhibitors, resistance development,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Darunavir is the most recently approved human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) protease (PR) inhibitor (PI) and is active against many HIV type 1 PR variants resistant to earlier-generation PIs. Darunavir shows a high genetic barrier to resistance development, and virus strains with lower sensitivity to darunavir have a higher number of PI resistance-associated mutations than viruses resistant to other PIs. In this work, we have enzymologically and structurally characterized a number of highly mutated clinically derived PRs with high levels of phenotypic resistance to darunavir. With 18 to 21 amino acid residue changes, the PR variants studied in this work are the most highly mutated HIV PR species ever studied by means of enzyme kinetics and X-ray crystallography. The recombinant proteins showed major defects in substrate binding, while the substrate turnover was less affected. Remarkably, the overall catalytic efficiency of the recombinant PRs (5% that of the wild-type enzyme) is still sufficient to support polyprotein processing and particle maturation in the corresponding viruses. The X-ray structures of drug-resistant PRs complexed with darunavir suggest that the impaired inhibitor binding could be explained by change in the PR-inhibitor hydrogen bond pattern in the P2' binding pocket due to a substantial shift of the aminophenyl moiety of the inhibitor. Recombinant virus phenotypic characterization, enzyme kinetics, and X-ray structural analysis thus help to explain darunavir resistance development in HIV-positive patients.

• MeSH
• darunavir MeSH
• genové produkty env - virus lidské imunodeficience metabolismus   MeSH
• genové produkty gag - virus lidské imunodeficience metabolismus   MeSH
• HIV infekce virologie   MeSH
• HIV-1 účinky léků   izolace a purifikace   MeSH
• HIV-proteasa chemie   genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• inhibitory HIV-proteasy farmakologie   MeSH
• krystalografie rentgenová MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• missense mutace MeSH
• molekulární modely MeSH
• molekulární sekvence - údaje MeSH
• mutační analýza DNA MeSH
• polyproteiny metabolismus   MeSH
• sekvence aminokyselin MeSH
• substituce aminokyselin MeSH
• sulfonamidy farmakologie   MeSH
• terciární struktura proteinů MeSH
• vazba proteinů MeSH
• vazebná místa MeSH
• virová léková rezistence * MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• darunavir MeSH
• genové produkty env - virus lidské imunodeficience MeSH
• genové produkty gag - virus lidské imunodeficience MeSH
• HIV-proteasa MeSH
• inhibitory HIV-proteasy MeSH
• p16 protease, Human immunodeficiency virus 1 MeSH Prohlížeč
• polyproteiny MeSH
• sulfonamidy MeSH