AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, May 9, 2005
Staff Medical Writers

According to recent research published in the Journal of Biomolecular Screening, "The HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein transmembrane subunit, gp41, mediates the fusion of viral and target cell membranes.

"The 2 helical regions in the ectodomain of gp41, the N-helix and the C-helix, form a helical bundle complex that has been suggested as a fusion-active conformation. Previously, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method had been established to measure the interaction of 2 helical regions of gp41."

"In this study," reported B.S. Jin and colleagues at the Korea Institute of Science & Technology in Seoul, "the ELISA method was modified to apply high-throughput screening (HTS) of an organic compound library."

"A few compounds had been identified to prevent the interaction between 2 helical regions of gp41, and they were further shown to inhibit the gp41-mediated viral infection.

"In addition," said the authors, "they specifically quenched the fluorescence of tryptophan in the N-helix region, indicating that these compounds bound to the N-helix rather than the C-helix of gp41."

"These results suggested that this assay method targeting gp41 could be used for HTS of HIV fusion inhibitors," investigators concluded.

Jin and colleagues published their study in the Journal of Biomolecular Screening (High-throughput screening method of inhibitors that block the interaction between 2 helical regions of HIV-1 gp41. J Biomol Screen. 2005 Feb;10(1):13-9.

For additional information, contact B.S. Jin, Korea Institute Science & Technology, Division Life Science, POB 131, Seoul 130650, South Korea.

The publisher's contact information for the Journal of Biomolecular Screening is: Sage Publications Inc., 2455 Teller Rd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91320, USA.

Keywords: Seoul, South Korea, HIV-1 gp41, High-Throughput ELISA Screen, Pharmaceutical & Drug Development, Membrane Fusion Inhibitor.

This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.

Reference

Jin BS, Lee WK, Ahn K, et al., High-throughput screening method of inhibitors that block the interaction between 2 helical regions of HIV-1 gp41, J Biomol Screen. 2005 Feb;10(1):13-9.

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