An orally bioavailable antipoxvirus compound (ST-246) inhibits extracellular virus formation and protects mice from lethal orthopoxvirus Challenge.

ST-246 is a low-molecular-weight compound (molecular weight = 376), that is potent (concentration that inhibited virus replication by 50% = 0.010 microM), selective (concentration of compound that inhibited cell viability by 50% = >40 microM), and active against multiple orthopoxviruses, including vaccinia, monkeypox, camelpox, cowpox, ectromelia (mousepox), and variola viruses. Cowpox virus variants selected in cell culture for resistance to ST-246 were found to have a single amino acid change in the V061 gene. Reengineering this change back into the wild-type cowpox virus genome conferred resistance to ST-246, suggesting that V061 is the target of ST-246 antiviral activity. The cowpox virus V061 gene is homologous to vaccinia virus F13L, which encodes a major envelope protein (p37) required for production of extracellular virus. In cell culture, ST-246 inhibited plaque formation and virus-induced cytopathic effects. In single-cycle growth assays, ST-246 reduced extracellular virus formation by 10 fold relative to untreated controls, while having little effect on the production of intracellular virus. In vivo oral administration of ST-246 protected BALB/c mice from lethal infection, following intranasal inoculation with 10x 50% lethal dose (LD(50)) of vaccinia virus strain IHD-J. ST-246-treated mice that survived infection acquired protective immunity and were resistant to subsequent challenge with a lethal dose (10x LD(50)) of vaccinia virus. Orally administered ST-246 also protected A/NCr mice from lethal infection, following intranasal inoculation with 40,000x LD(50) of ectromelia virus. Infectious virus titers at day 8 postinfection in liver, spleen, and lung from ST-246-treated animals were below the limits of detection (<10 PFU/ml). In contrast, mean virus titers in liver, spleen, and lung tissues from placebo-treated mice were 6.2 x 10(7), 5.2 x 10(7), and 1.8 x 10(5) PFU/ml, respectively. Finally, oral administration of ST-246 inhibited vaccinia virus-induced tail lesions in Naval Medical Research Institute mice inoculated via the tail vein. Taken together, these results validate F13L as an antiviral target and demonstrate that an inhibitor of extracellular virus formation can protect mice from orthopoxvirus-induced disease.

Structure assignment, total synthesis, and antiviral evaluation of cycloviracin B1.

The first total synthesis of the antivirally active glycolipid cycloviracin B(1) (1) is described. The approach is based on a two-directional synthesis strategy which constructs the C(2)()-symmetrical macrodiolide core of the target by an efficient template-directed macrodilactonization reaction promoted by 2-chloro-1,3-dimethylimidazolinium chloride 14 as the activating agent. Attachment of the lateral fatty acid chains to the lactide core thus formed features not only one of the most advanced ligand-controlled addition reactions of a functionalized dialkyl zinc reagent to a polyfunctional aldehyde, but also a highly demanding Julia-Kocienski olefination of a tetrazolyl sulfone bearing electrophilic and base-labile beta-hydroxy ester motifs. By virtue of the flexibility of this synthesis plan, it was possible to prepare a series of macrodiolide cores differing only in the absolute stereochemistry at the branching points as well as a host of model compounds for the fatty acid appendices of cycloviracin. Comparison of these derivatives with the natural product allowed us to establish the as yet unknown absolute stereochemistry of 6 chiral centers of 1 as (3R,19S,25R,3'R,17'S,23'R). Thereby, the (13)C NMR shifts of the anomeric position of the beta-glycosides residing at those positions turned out to be excellent probes for the absolute configuration of the attached aglycones. The concise set of data thus obtained also makes clear that the proposed structure of the fattiviracins, a seemingly closely related family of glycoconjugates, is not matched by the published data. Finally, the biological activity of synthetic 1 and some of the key intermediates obtained en route to this natural product was investigated, showing that the entire construct is necessary for appreciable and selective antiviral activity.

Synthesis, antiviral and cytotoxic activity of 6-bromo-2,3-disubstituted-4(3H)-quinazolinones.

In the present study, a series of 6-bromo-2,3-disubstitued-4(3H)-quinazolinones was synthesized by condensation of 6-bromo-2-substituted-benzoxazin-4-one with trimethoprim, pyrimethamine and lamotrigine. The chemical structures of the synthesized compounds were confirmed by means of IR, (1)H-NMR and mass spectral and elemental analysis. The antiviral activity and cytotoxicity of the compounds were tested in E(6)SM (Herpes simplex-1 KOS, Herpes simplex-1 TK-KOS ACV, Herpes simplex-2 G, Vaccinia virus, Vesicular stomatitis virus, Parainfluenza-3 virus, Reovirus-1, Sindbis virus, Coxsackie virus B4 and Punta Toro virus) and HeLa cell culture (Vesicular stomatitis virus, Coxsackie virus B4 and Respiratory syncyticla virus). Investigation of anti-HIV activity was done against replication of HIV-1 (HTLV-III B LAI) in MT-4 cells. 6-Bromo-2-phenyl-3-[(4-amino-5-(4-chlorophenyl)-6-ethylpyrimidin-2-yl]-4(3H)-quinazolinone (4) exhibited the most potent antiviral activity with a MIC of 1.92 microg/ml against vaccinia virus in E(6)SM cell culture. The other compounds did not exhibit antiviral activity nor afford significant cytoprotection to the E(6)SM and HeLa cell culture when challenged with the viruses. The study implies that 4 may possess activity against Pox viruses including variola. In the anti-HIV study, 6-bromo-2-methyl-3-[(4-amino-5-(4-chlorophenyl)-6-ethylpyrimidin-2-yl]-4(3H)-quinazolinone (3) and 6-bromo-2-phenyl-3-[(4-amino-5-(4-chlorophenyl)-6-ethylpyrimidin-2-yl]-4(3H)-quinazolinone (4) exhibited the least cytotoxic concentration (0.424, 0.461 microg/ml) which is an index of the infective viability of mock infected MT-4 cells with HIV-1. None of the compounds exhibited significant anti-HIV activity.