Design and evaluation of antiretroviral peptides corresponding to the C-terminal heptad repeat region (C-HR) of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 envelope glycoprotein gp41

Two alpha-helical heptad repeats. N-HR and C-HR, located in the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) envelope glycoprotein gp41, play an important role in membrane fusion by forming a 6-helix bundle. C34, a peptide mimicking C-HR, inhibits the formation of the 6-helix bundle, thus, it has potential as a novel antiretroviral compound In order to improve the inhibitory effect of C34 on HIV-1 replication, we designed new C34-derived peptides based on computational analysis of the stable conformation of the 6-helix bundle Newly designed peptides showed a stronger inhibitory effect on the replication of recombinant viruses containing CRF01_AE, subtype B or subtype C Env than C34 or a fusion inhibitor, T-20 In addition, these peptides inhibited the replication of a T-20-resistant virus We propose that these peptides could be applied to develop novel antiretroviral compounds to inhibit the replication of various subtypes of HIV-I as well as of T-20-resistant variants (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc All rights reserved