Santad Chanprapaph. Competitive inhibition of the dengue virus type 2 NS3 serine protease by synthetic peptides derived from the viral polyprotein and generation of in silico model for substrate binding. Doctoral Degree(Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2009-07-09.
Competitive inhibition of the dengue virus type 2 NS3 serine protease by synthetic peptides derived from the viral polyprotein and generation of in silico model for substrate binding
Abstract:
The 69-kDa NS3 protein of dengue virus contains multiple enzymatic activities including a serine protease domain in the N-terminal region. The protease mediates cleavage at dibasic sites within the nonstructural region of the viral polyprotein and represents a promising target for antiviral drug design. Previous studies with the hepatitis C protease revealed an unusual sensitivity of this enzyme to competitive inhibition by product peptides representing cleavage sites which was subsequently exploited for the design of inhibitors with
potencies in the nanomolar range. In this thesis it was demonstrated that synthetic peptides derived from the dengue type 2 polyprotein act as inhibitors of the NS3 protease with high molecular affinities. Kinetic analysis of substrate conversion experiments with the synthetic peptide substrate GRR-AMC by double reciprocal Lineweaver-Burkes plots or Dixon plots supports an inhibition mechanism which is compatible with competitive inhibitor modality. Hexapeptides based on the P1-P6 regions of all 4 cleavage sites were inhibitors with Ki - values ranging from 12-67 μM and the peptide RTSKKR base on the NS2A/NS2B site was the most efficient compound. In contrast to the HCV protease, the hexapeptide based on the intramolecular NS2B/NS3 cleavage site gave significant inhibition with a Ki of 67 μM. Shorter peptides such as SKKR, KKR, GKR and KR displayed Ki - values between 22 and 188 μM, whereas the peptide AGRR was inactive at 1 mM concentration. Consistent with an almost negligible contribution of S′ subsite binding to enzyme inhibition, pentapeptides
representing the 4 nonstructural prime site sequences had no effect at 1 mM concentration. In conclusion, the data are largely compatible with binding preferences of the NS3 protease for basic residues at the P1-P4 positions, additional aliphatic and/or basic residues at P5 and P6 and small chain residues (Gly or Ser) at P1′.
Data for docked energy and binding geometries obtained by molecular docking using the programs Autodock of a series of 27 peptides to a homology-based model of the dengue virus NS2B(H)-NS3p suggests that binding is more favourable in the presence of the NS2B cofactor and that binding of product peptides is similar to ground-state binding of corresponding substrates. In summary, it is shown for the first time that the dengue virus NS3 protease shares competitive inhibition by product peptides with its HCV counterpart. These results offer the prospect of developing potent inhibitors against the dengue virus NS3 protease by combinatorial optimization and peptidomimetic design of product inhibitors based on native polyprotein cleavage junctions."