When interacting with the CD4 receptor, the HIV gp120 envelope glycoprotein undergoes conformational changes that allow binding to the chemokine receptor. Receptor binding is proposed to lead to conformational changes in the gp41 transmembrane envelope glycoprotein involving the creation and͞or exposure of a coiled coil consisting of three heptad repeat (HR) sequences. The subsequent interaction of the HR2 region of gp41 with this coiled coil results in the assembly of a six-helix bundle that promotes the fusion of the viral and target cell membranes. Here we show that CD4 binding to gp120 induces the formation and͞or exposure of the gp41 HR1 coiled coil in a process that does not involve gp120 shedding and that depends on the proteolytic maturation of the gp160 envelope glycoprotein precursor. Importantly, BMS-806 and related HIV-1 entry inhibitors bind gp120 and block the CD4 induction of HR1 exposure without significantly affecting CD4 binding. Moreover, these compounds do not disrupt gp120-chemokine receptor binding or the HR1-HR2 interaction within gp41. These studies thus define a receptor-induced conformational rearrangement of gp120-gp41 that is important for both CD4-dependent and CD4-independent HIV-1 entry and is susceptible to inhibition by low-molecular-weight compounds.
NBD-556 and the chemically and structurally similar NBD-557 are two low-molecular weight compounds that reportedly block the interaction between the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein gp120 and its receptor, CD4. NBD-556 binds to gp120 with a binding affinity of 2.7 x 10(5) M(-1) (K(d) = 3.7 muM) in a process characterized by a large favorable change in enthalpy partially compensated by a large unfavorable entropy change, a thermodynamic signature similar to that observed for binding of sCD4 to gp120. NBD-556 binding is associated with a large structuring of the gp120 molecule, as also demonstrated by CD spectroscopy. NBD-556, like CD4, activates the binding of gp120 to the HIV-1 coreceptor, CCR5, and to the 17b monoclonal antibody, which recognizes the coreceptor binding site of gp120. NBD-556 stimulates HIV-1 infection of CD4-negative, CCR5-expressing cells. The thermodynamic signature of the binding of NBD-556 to gp120 is very different from that of another viral entry inhibitor, BMS-378806. Whereas NBD-556 binds gp120 with a large favorable enthalpy and compensating unfavorable entropy changes, BMS-378806 does so with a small binding enthalpy change in a mostly entropy-driven process. NBD-556 is a competitive inhibitor of sCD4 and elicits a similar structuring of the coreceptor binding site, whereas BMS-378806 does not compete with sCD4 and does not induce coreceptor binding. These studies demonstrate that low-molecular-weight compounds can induce conformational changes in the HIV-1 gp120 glycoprotein similar to those observed upon CD4 binding, revealing distinct strategies for inhibiting the function of the HIV-1 gp120 envelope glycoprotein. Furthermore, competitive and noncompetitive compounds have characteristic thermodynamic signatures that can be used to guide the design of more potent and effective viral entry inhibitors.
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