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Structure-guided design of potent and permeable inhibitors of MERS coronavirus 3CL protease that utilize a piperidine moiety as a novel design element
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Structure-guided design of potent and permeable inhibitors of MERS coronavirus 3CL protease that utilize a piperidine moiety as a novel design element

Anushka C Galasiti Kankanamalage, Yunjeong Kim, Vishnu C Damalanka, Athri D Rathnayake, Anthony R Fehr, Nurjahan Mehzabeen, Kevin P Battaile, Scott Lovell, Gerald H Lushington, Stanley Perlman, …
European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, Vol.150, pp.334-346
04/25/2018
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2018.03.004
PMCID: PMC5891363
PMID: 29544147
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmech.2018.03.004View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

There are currently no approved vaccines or small molecule therapeutics available for the prophylaxis or treatment of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infections. MERS-CoV 3CL protease is essential for viral replication; consequently, it is an attractive target that provides a potentially effective means of developing small molecule therapeutics for combatting MERS-CoV. We describe herein the structure-guided design and evaluation of a novel class of inhibitors of MERS-CoV 3CL protease that embody a piperidine moiety as a design element that is well-suited to exploiting favorable subsite binding interactions to attain optimal pharmacological activity and PK properties. The mechanism of action of the compounds and the structural determinants associated with binding were illuminated using X-ray crystallography. [Display omitted] •The structure-guided design of a new class of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) 3CL protease inhibitors was performed.•A piperidine moiety was used as a design element in the synthesis of peptidomimetic inhibitors that exploit interactions with the enzyme S3-S4 subsites.•The inhibitor design rationale was validated by X-ray crystallographic studies.•X-ray crystallography confirmed the mechanism of action of the inhibitors.
Peptidomimetic inhibitors 3CL protease Antiviral MERS-CoV Piperidine moiety

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