In recent years, clinical symptoms resulting from West Nile virus (WNV) infection have worsened in severity, with an increased frequency in neuroinvasive diseases among the elderly. As there are presently no successful therapies against WNV for use in humans, continual efforts to develop new chemotherapeutics against this virus are highly desired. The viral NS2B‐NS3 protease is a promising target for viral inhibition due to its importance in viral replication and its unique substrate preference. In this study, a WNV NS2B‐NS3 protease inhibitor with a 2‐{6‐[2‐(5‐phenyl‐4H‐[1,2,4]triazol‐3‐ylsulfanyl)acetylamino]benzothiazol‐2‐ylsulfanyl}acetamide scaffold was identified during screening. Optimization of this initial hit by synthesis and screening of a focused compound library with this scaffold led to the identification of a novel uncompetitive inhibitor (1 a24, IC₅₀=3.4±0.2 μM) of the WNV NS2B‐NS3 protease. Molecular docking of 1 a24 into the WNV protease showed that the compound interferes with productive interactions of the NS2B cofactor with the NS3 protease and is an allosteric inhibitor of the WNV NS3 protease.

中文翻译：

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基于2- {6- [2- [5-（苯基] -4H- {1,2,4]三唑-3-基硫基]乙酰氨基]苯并噻唑-2-基硫基}的西尼罗河病毒蛋白酶抑制剂的合成和体外评估乙酰胺支架

近年来，由西尼罗河病毒（WNV）感染引起的临床症状严重程度恶化，老年人神经侵袭性疾病的发生频率增加。由于目前尚无成功的抗WNV疗法用于人类，因此迫切需要为开发新的针对该病毒的化学疗法而不断努力。由于其在病毒复制中的重要性及其独特的底物偏爱性，病毒NS2B-NS3蛋白酶是有希望的病毒抑制靶标。在这项研究中，WNV NS2B-NS3蛋白酶抑制剂具有2- {6- [2-（5-苯基-4H]在筛选过程中发现了[[1,2,4]三唑-3-基硫烷基]乙酰氨基]苯并噻唑-2-基硫基}乙酰胺支架。通过合成和的筛选该初始命中的优化聚焦化合物库与此支架导致的新颖非竞争性抑制剂的鉴定（1 A24，IC ₅₀ = 3.4±0.2μ中号的WNV的NS2B-NS3蛋白酶）。1 a24分子对接至WNV蛋白酶表明该化合物干扰NS2B辅因子与NS3蛋白酶的生产性相互作用，并且是WNV NS3蛋白酶的变构抑制剂。