| Abstract
| - A molecular modeling strategy using aryl diketo acid (ADK) derivatives recently reported inthe literature as hepatitis C virus (HCV) polymerase inhibitors was designed. A 3D chemical-feature-based pharmacophore model was developed using Catalyst software, which produced10 pharmacophore hypotheses. The top-ranked one (Hypo 1), characterized by a high correlationcoefficient (r = 0.965), consisted of two hydrogen bond acceptors, one negative ionizable moiety,and two hydrophobic aromatics. This model was used to predict the anti-RNA-dependent RNApolymerase (anti-RdRp) activity of 6-(1-arylmethylpyrrol-2-yl)-1,4-dioxo-5-hexenoic acids andother ADK derivatives previously synthesized in our laboratories as HIV-1 integrase inhibitors.Furthermore, the experimental IC50 values of 9 compounds, tested in vitro against recombinantHCV polymerase, were compared with the corresponding values predicted using Hypo1. A goodagreement between experimental and simulated data was obtained. The results demonstratethat the hypothesis derived in this study can be considered to be a useful tool in designingnew leads based on ADK scaffolds as HCV RdRp inhibitors.
|
