Design of a Novel HIV-1 Fusion Inhibitor That Displays a Minimal Interface for Binding Affinity

Reported herein are the design, biological activities, and biophysical properties of a novel HIV-1 membrane fusion inhibitor. α-Helix-inducible X-EE-XX-KK motifs were applied to design an enfuvirtide analogue 2 that exhibited highly potent anti-HIV activity against wild-type HIV-1, enfuvirtide-resistant HIV-1 strains, and an HIV-2 strain in vitro. Indispensable residues for bioactivity of enfuvirtide, including the residues interacting with the N-terminal heptad repeat and the C-terminal hydrophobic residues, were identified.