title: Zinc ejection as a new rationale for the use of cystamine and related disulfide-containing antiviral agents in the treatment of AIDS.
abstract: The highly conserved and mutationally intolerant retroviral zinc finger motif of the HIV-1 nucleocapsid protein (NC) is an attractive target for drug therapy due to its participation in multiple stages of the viral replication cycle. A literature search identified cystamine, thiamine disulfide, and disulfiram as compounds that have been shown to inhibit HIV-1 replication by poorly defined mechanisms and that have electrophilic functional groups that might react with the metal-coordinating sulfur atoms of the retroviral zinc fingers and cause zinc ejection. 1H NMR studies reveal that these compounds readily eject zinc from synthetic peptides with sequences corresponding to the HIV-1 NC zinc fingers, as well as from the intact HIV-1 NC protein. In contrast, the reduced forms of disulfiram and cystamine, diethyl dithiocarbamate and cysteamine, respectively, were found to be ineffective at zinc ejection, although cysteamine formed a transient complex with the zinc fingers. Studies with HIV-1-infected human T-cells and monocyte/macrophage cultures revealed that cystamine and cysteamine possess significant antiviral properties at nontoxic concentrations, which warrant their consideration as therapeutically useful anti-HIV agents.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Maryland Baltimore County 21228, USA.
authors.forename: N B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: McDonnell
authors.forename: R N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: De Guzman
authors.forename: W G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Rice
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Turpin
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Summers
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002213:Capsid / Q000378:metabolism*; D036022:Capsid Proteins; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003538:Cystamine / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004221:Disulfiram / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004050:Ditiocarb / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015683:Gene Products, gag / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D013831:Thiamine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014764:Viral Proteins; D016335:Zinc Fingers; D054301:gag Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
chemical_list: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents; D036022:Capsid Proteins; D015683:Gene Products, gag; C071884:NCP7 protein, Human immunodeficiency virus 1; D014764:Viral Proteins; D054301:gag Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus; D004050:Ditiocarb; D003538:Cystamine; D004221:Disulfiram; C013293:thiamine disulfide; D013831:Thiamine