Bicyclic nitroimidazoles, including PA-824, are exciting candidates for the treatment of tuberculosis. These prodrugs require intracellular activation for their biological function. We found that Rv3547 is a deazaflavin-dependent nitroreductase (Ddn) that converts PA-824 into three primary metabolites; the major one is the corresponding des-nitroimidazole (des-nitro). When derivatives of PA-824 were used, the amount of des-nitro metabolite formed was highly correlated with anaerobic killing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Des-nitro metabolite formation generated reactive nitrogen species, including nitric oxide (NO), which are the major effectors of the anaerobic activity of these compounds. Furthermore, NO scavengers protected the bacilli from the lethal effects of the drug. Thus, these compounds may act as intracellular NO donors and could augment a killing mechanism intrinsic to the innate immune system.

Dengue virus (DENV), a mosquito-borne flavivirus, is a major public health threat. The virus poses risk to 2.5 billion people worldwide and causes 50 to 100 million human infections each year. Neither a vaccine nor an antiviral therapy is currently available for prevention and treatment of DENV infection. Here, we report a previously undescribed adenosine analog, NITD008, that potently inhibits DENV both in vitro and in vivo. In addition to the 4 serotypes of DENV, NITD008 inhibits other flaviviruses, including West Nile virus, yellow fever virus, and Powassan virus. The compound also suppresses hepatitis C virus, but it does not inhibit nonflaviviruses, such as Western equine encephalitis virus and vesicular stomatitis virus. A triphosphate form of NITD008 directly inhibits the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity of DENV, indicating that the compound functions as a chain terminator during viral RNA synthesis. NITD008 has good in vivo pharmacokinetic properties and is biologically available through oral administration. Treatment of DENV-infected mice with NITD008 suppressed peak viremia, reduced cytokine elevation, and completely prevented the infected mice from death. No observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) was achieved when rats were orally dosed with NITD008 at 50 mg/kg daily for 1 week. However, NOAEL could not be accomplished when rats and dogs were dosed daily for 2 weeks. Nevertheless, our results have proved the concept that a nucleoside inhibitor could be developed for potential treatment of flavivirus infections.

Viral replication relies on the host to supply nucleosides. Host enzymes involved in nucleoside biosynthesis are potential targets for antiviral development. Ribavirin (a known antiviral drug) is such an inhibitor that suppresses guanine biosynthesis; depletion of the intracellular GTP pool was shown to be the major mechanism to inhibit flavivirus. Along similar lines, inhibitors of the pyrimidine biosynthesis pathway could be targeted for potential antiviral development. Here we report on a novel antiviral compound (NITD-982) that inhibits host dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH), an enzyme required for pyrimidine biosynthesis. The inhibitor was identified through screening 1.8 million compounds using a dengue virus (DENV) infection assay. The compound contains an isoxazole-pyrazole core structure, and it inhibited DENV with a 50% effective concentration (EC 50 ) of 2.4 nM and a 50% cytotoxic concentration (CC 50 ) of >5 M. NITD-982 has a broad antiviral spectrum, inhibiting both flaviviruses and nonflaviviruses with nanomolar EC 90 s. We also show that (i) the compound inhibited the enzymatic activity of recombinant DHODH, (ii) an NITD-982 analogue directly bound to the DHODH protein, (iii) supplementing the culture medium with uridine reversed the compoundmediated antiviral activity, and (iv) DENV type 2 (DENV-2) variants resistant to brequinar (a known DHODH inhibitor) were cross resistant to NITD-982. Collectively, the results demonstrate that the compound inhibits DENV through depleting the intracellular pyrimidine pool. In contrast to the in vitro potency, the compound did not show any efficacy in the DENV-AG129 mouse model. The lack of in vivo efficacy is likely due to the exogenous uptake of pyrimidine from the diet or to a high plasma protein-binding activity of the current compound.

Target practice: The target of the antibiotic cyclomarin A was identified in Mycobacterium. Cyclomarin A (see structure) binds the regulatory subunit of the Clp protease complex with high affinity resulting in elevated proteolysis and cell death. The property of cyclomarin to kill both growing and nonreplicating mycobacteria makes the Clp protease a promising target for antitubercular drug discovery.

SummaryTuberculosis continues to be a global health threat, making bicyclic nitroimidazoles an important new class of therapeutics. A deazaflavin-dependent nitroreductase (Ddn) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis catalyzes the reduction of nitroimidazoles such as PA-824, resulting in intracellular release of lethal reactive nitrogen species. The N-terminal 30 residues of Ddn are functionally important but are flexible or access multiple conformations, preventing structural characterization of the full-length, enzymatically active enzyme. Several structures were determined of a truncated, inactive Ddn protein core with and without bound F420 deazaflavin coenzyme as well as of a catalytically competent homolog from Nocardia farcinica. Mutagenesis studies based on these structures identified residues important for binding of F420 and PA-824. The proposed orientation of the tail of PA-824 toward the N terminus of Ddn is consistent with current structure-activity relationship data.

Dengue virus (DENV) is the most prevalent mosquito-borne viral pathogen in humans. Neither vaccine nor antiviral therapy is currently available for DENV. We report here that N-sulfonylanthranilic acid derivatives are allosteric inhibitors of DENV RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp). The inhibitor was identified through high-throughput screening of one million compounds using a primer extension-based RdRp assay [substrate poly(C)/oligo(G) 20 ]. Chemical modification of the initial "hit" improved the compound potency to an IC 50 (that is, a concentration that inhibits 50% RdRp activity) of 0.7 M. In addition to suppressing the primer extension-based RNA elongation, the compound also inhibited de novo RNA synthesis using a DENV subgenomic RNA, but at a lower potency (IC 50 of 5 M). Remarkably, the observed anti-polymerase activity is specific to DENV RdRp; the compound did not inhibit WNV RdRp and exhibited IC 50 s of >100 M against hepatitis C virus RdRp and human DNA polymerase ␣ and ␤. UV cross-linking and mass spectrometric analysis showed that a photoreactive inhibitor could be cross-linked to Met343 within the RdRp domain of DENV NS5. On the crystal structure of DENV RdRp, Met343 is located at the entrance of RNA template tunnel. Biochemical experiments showed that the order of addition of RNA template and inhibitor during the assembly of RdRp reaction affected compound potency. Collectively, the results indicate that the compound inhibits RdRp through blocking the RNA tunnel. This study has provided direct evidence to support the hypothesis that allosteric pockets from flavivirus RdRp could be targeted for antiviral development.

The (S)-2-nitro-6-substituted 6,7-dihydro-5H-imidazo[2,1-b][1,3]oxazines have been extensively explored for their potential use as new antituberculars based on their excellent bactericidal properties on aerobic whole cells of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. An oxygen atom at the 2-position of the imidazole ring is required for aerobic activity. Here we show that substitution of this oxygen by either nitrogen or sulfur yielded equipotent analogs. Acylating the amino series, oxidizing the thioether, or replacing the ether oxygen with carbon significantly reduced the potency of the compounds. Replacement of the benzylic oxygen at the 6-position by nitrogen slightly improved potency and facilitated exploration of the SAR in the more soluble 6-amino series. Significant improvements in potency were realized by extending the linker region between the 6-(S) position and the terminal hydrophobic aromatic substituent. A simple 4-feature QSAR model was derived to rationalize MIC results in this series of bicyclic nitroimidazoles.

Proteolytic processing of the dengue virus polyprotein is mediated by host cell proteases and the virusencoded NS2B-NS3 two-component protease. The NS3 protease represents an attractive target for the development of antiviral inhibitors. The three-dimensional structure of the NS3 protease domain has been determined, but the structural determinants necessary for activation of the enzyme by the NS2B cofactor have been characterized only to a limited extent. To test a possible functional role of the recently proposed ⌽x 3 ⌽ motif in NS3 protease activation, we targeted six residues within the NS2B cofactor by site-specific mutagenesis. Residues Trp62, Ser71, Leu75, Ile77, Thr78, and Ile79 in NS2B were replaced with alanine, and in addition, an L75A/I79A double mutant was generated. The effects of these mutations on the activity of the NS2B(H)-NS3pro protease were analyzed in vitro by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of autoproteolytic cleavage at the NS2B/NS3 site and by assay of the enzyme with the fluorogenic peptide substrate GRR-AMC. Compared to the wild type, the L75A, I77A, and I79A mutants demonstrated inefficient autoproteolysis, whereas in the W62A and the L75A/I79A mutants self-cleavage appeared to be almost completely abolished. With exception of the S71A mutant, which had a k cat /K m value for the GRR-AMC peptide similar to that of the wild type, all other mutants exhibited drastically reduced k cat values. These results indicate a pivotal function of conserved residues Trp62, Leu75, and Ile79 in the NS2B cofactor in the structural activation of the dengue virus NS3 serine protease.Infection by dengue viruses is now widely recognized as a major public health concern, with more than 1 million cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever per year and case fatality rates ranging from 1 to 10% (23). There are four serotypes of dengue virus, which cause dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome (21,22). Dengue viruses, members of the Flaviviridae family, are small, enveloped, positive-stranded RNA viruses which are transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes (7). At present, neither a commercial vaccine nor a causative treatment is available for the prevention or cure of acute dengue virus diseases.The genomic RNA of dengue virus serotype 2 contains 10,723 nucleotides and encodes a large polyprotein precursor of 3,391 amino acid residues which consists of three structural proteins (C, prM, and E) and seven nonstructural proteins (NS1, NS2A, NS2B, NS3, NS4A, NS4B, and NS5) (26). The polyprotein is co-and posttranslationally processed by proteases of the host cell and the virus-encoded two-component protease NS2B-NS3 to generate individual viral proteins (11,18). Optimal activity of the NS3 serine protease (flavivirin, EC 3.4.21.91) is an essential requirement for maturation of the virus, and inhibition of this enzyme offers the prospect of an effective antiviral chemotherapy for severe cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome (for review see references 6, 39, and 41 and...