Potent Peptides Inhibit HIV Cell Entry

U.S. scientists have developed peptides significantly more effective at blocking the human immunodeficiency virus from entering cells.

Based in part on protein structures determined at the National Synchrotron Light Source at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, researchers said their peptides are sufficiently potent to begin pre-clinical studies as a potential new class of agents for the prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS.

Our ‘D-peptides’ offer several potential therapeutic advantages over existing peptide entry inhibitors, which are costly, require high dose injections, and suffer from the emergence of drug-resistance, said University of Utah biochemist Michael Kay, lead author of the study. In contrast, our D-peptides resist degradation, so they have the potential to be administered by mouth and last longer in the bloodstream. Since these inhibitors have a unique inhibitory mechanism, they should work well in combination with existing HIV inhibitors.

The work appears in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.