Structure-guided approach to assay development for inhibiting Dengue virus replication

抑制登革热病毒复制的结构引导检测方法开发

• 批准号: 2878431
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Durham University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2878431
• 关键词: Structure; guided; approach; assay; development

Dengue virus, transmitted by mosquitos in Africa, Asia and central America, infects ~390 million people and kills ~20,00 people, including children, annually, mostly in tropical climates. With no licensed drugs and a vaccine recommended to people only after a previous Dengue infection, new anti-viral therapeutic strategies are needed. A structure-guided approach accelerates drug discovery but requires information about the structure and organization of protein targets. The architecture of the Dengue virus RNA replication complex remains unknown, despite structures of 5 out of its 7 protein subunits being available. Equivalent complexes are targeted in other anti-viral treatments, such as against Hepatitis C (a close relative of Dengue), HIV, SARS-CoV-2 and the Herpes Simplex type 1 virus. However, the assembly of the Dengue virus replication complex remains poorly characterised. Here, a rigorous structural and biophysical study of the two enzymes, non-structural proteins NS3 and NS5, at the heart of the Dengue viral replication complex will enable the development of new high-throughput assays for in vitro screening, while also supporting future in silico drug discovery efforts. This project will involve collecting electron microscopy and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) data to build a model of the Dengue replication complex using previous X-ray structures of the individual proteins. Subsequently, new high-throughput assays will be developed to screen small molecules that inhibit the assembly and enzyme activities of this complex.

登革热病毒在非洲、亚洲和中美洲由蚊子传播，每年感染约3.9亿人，造成约2万人死亡，其中包括儿童，主要发生在热带气候地区。由于没有许可的药物和疫苗推荐给人们只有在以前的登革热感染后，需要新的抗病毒治疗策略。结构引导的方法加速了药物发现，但需要有关蛋白质靶点的结构和组织的信息。登革病毒RNA复制复合物的结构仍然未知，尽管其7个蛋白质亚基中有5个的结构是可用的。等效复合物在其他抗病毒治疗中有针对性，例如针对丙型肝炎（登革热的近亲），HIV，SARS-CoV-2和单纯疱疹病毒1型。然而，登革病毒复制复合物的组装仍然缺乏特征。在这里，对登革病毒复制复合体核心的两种酶（非结构蛋白NS 3和NS 5）进行严格的结构和生物物理研究，将能够开发用于体外筛选的新的高通量检测方法，同时也支持未来的计算机药物发现工作。该项目将涉及收集电子显微镜和小角X射线散射（SAXS）数据，以使用先前单个蛋白质的X射线结构建立登革热复制复合体的模型。随后，将开发新的高通量测定来筛选抑制该复合物的组装和酶活性的小分子。