Inhibition of CCR5 assessed as reduction in fusion of effector cells expressing JRFL envelope (CCR5-tropic/CD4-dependent) with human HeLa-C14 target cells expressing CD4, CCR5, and CXCR4) by luciferase readout
Antagonist activity at CCR5 receptor (unknown origin) expressed in HEK293 cells assessed as inhibition of CCl5-induced calcium release at 1 uM by FLIPR assay
Radioligand Binding Assay: Afterwards, the pharmacological profile of bivalent ligand 1 at the chemokine receptor CCR5 was characterized similarly. The competitive radioligand binding assay was conducted in CCR5 rhesus macaque membrane preparations from Chem-1 cells. Monovalent ligand 3 and compound 4, an analogue of maraviroc, were tested along under the same condition. Introduction of the 4-NH2 group onto the phenyl ring of maraviroc, as seen in compound 4, caused approximately 65-fold decrease in the binding affinity, compared to maraviroc. The decrease of the binding affinity was even more profound for bivalent ligand 1 and monovalent ligand 3, as their Ki values dropped to submicromolar range, respectively.
Flux Assay: Then the Ca2+ functional activity of bivalent ligand 1 was evaluated in the Gqi5 transfected CCR5-MOLT-4 cells as described in the literature.3 As expected, no CCR5 agonism was detected for the bivalent ligand 1 (data not shown). In the RANTES induced Ca2+ flux inhibition assay (Table 3), the bivalent ligand 1 was approximately 60-fold less potent than maraviroc. A more significant potency decrease (nearly 300 times) was observed for the monovalent ligand 3, compared to maraviroc. In order to figure out the possible reasons for such a dramatic drop of their potency, two analogues (4 and 5, FIG. 14) of mavaviroc carrying gradient steric hindrance characters at the same substitution position were evaluated under the same condition. Compound 4 showed a modest reduction of the potency (Table 2). However, the inhibition potency of the N-t-Boc protected analogue 5 dropped to micromolar (IC50=1.57+/-0.18 uM). It thus appeared that steric hindrance may play an essential role.
Inhibition of human recombinant CCR5 encoding an HIV-1-longterminal-repeat-regulated beta-galactosidase reporter gene expressed in human HeLaP4 cells assessed as reduction of interaction with HIV-1 gp160 expressed in CHO cells by cell-cell fusion assay