2. Academic Validation
  3. Identification of Hydroxyanthraquinones as Novel Inhibitors of Hepatitis C Virus NS3 Helicase

Identification of Hydroxyanthraquinones as Novel Inhibitors of Hepatitis C Virus NS3 Helicase

  • Int J Mol Sci. 2015 Aug 7;16(8):18439-53. doi: 10.3390/ijms160818439.
Atsushi Furuta 1 2,  Masayoshi Tsubuki 3,  Miduki Endoh 4,  Tatsuki Miyamoto 1 2,  Junichi Tanaka 5,  Kazi Abdus Salam 6,  Nobuyoshi Akimitsu 7,  Hidenori Tani 8,  Atsuya Yamashita 9,  Kohji Moriishi 10,  Masamichi Nakakoshi 11,  Yuji Sekiguchi 2,  Satoshi Tsuneda 12,  Naohiro Noda 13 14
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Life Science and Medical Bioscience, Waseda University, 2-2 Wakamatsu-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8480, Japan. y.sekiguchi@aist.go.jp.
  • 2 Biomedical Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8566, Japan. y.sekiguchi@aist.go.jp.
  • 3 Institute of Medical Chemistry, Hoshi University, 2-4-41 Ebara, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 142-8501, Japan. tsubuki@hoshi.ac.jp.
  • 4 Institute of Medical Chemistry, Hoshi University, 2-4-41 Ebara, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 142-8501, Japan. hyonba@yahoo.co.jp.
  • 5 Department of Chemistry, Biology and Marine Science, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0213, Japan. jtanaka@sci.u-ryukyu.ac.jp.
  • 6 Radioisotope Center, The University of Tokyo, 2-11-16 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0032, Japan. salam_bio26@yahoo.com.
  • 7 Radioisotope Center, The University of Tokyo, 2-11-16 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0032, Japan. akimitsu@ric.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
  • 8 Environmental Measurement Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 16-1 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8569, Japan. h.tani@aist.go.jp.
  • 9 Department of Microbiology, Division of Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering, University of Yamanashi, 1110 Shimokato, Chuo-shi, Yamanashi 409-3898, Japan. atsuyay@yamanashi.ac.jp.
  • 10 Department of Microbiology, Division of Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering, University of Yamanashi, 1110 Shimokato, Chuo-shi, Yamanashi 409-3898, Japan. kmoriishi@yamanashi.ac.jp.
  • 11 Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Toho University, 2-2-1 Miyama, Funabashi-shi, Chiba 274-8510, Japan. nakakoshi@phar.toho-u.ac.jp.
  • 12 Department of Life Science and Medical Bioscience, Waseda University, 2-2 Wakamatsu-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8480, Japan. stsuneda@waseda.jp.
  • 13 Department of Life Science and Medical Bioscience, Waseda University, 2-2 Wakamatsu-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8480, Japan. noda-naohiro@aist.go.jp.
  • 14 Biomedical Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8566, Japan. noda-naohiro@aist.go.jp.
PMID: 26262613 DOI: 10.3390/ijms160818439
Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an important etiological agent of severe liver diseases, including cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The HCV genome encodes nonstructural protein 3 (NS3) helicase, which is a potential anti-HCV drug target because its enzymatic activity is essential for viral replication. Some anthracyclines are known to be NS3 helicase inhibitors and have a hydroxyanthraquinone moiety in their structures; mitoxantrone, a hydroxyanthraquinone analogue, is also known to inhibit NS3 helicase. Therefore, we hypothesized that the hydroxyanthraquinone moiety alone could also inhibit NS3 helicase. Here, we performed a structure-activity relationship study on a series of hydroxyanthraquinones by using a fluorescence-based helicase assay. Hydroxyanthraquinones inhibited NS3 helicase with IC50 values in the micromolar range. The inhibitory activity varied depending on the number and position of the phenolic hydroxyl groups, and among different hydroxyanthraquinones examined, 1,4,5,8-tetrahydroxyanthraquinone strongly inhibited NS3 helicase with an IC50 value of 6 µM. Furthermore, hypericin and sennidin A, which both have two hydroxyanthraquinone-like moieties, were found to exert even stronger inhibition with IC50 values of 3 and 0.8 µM, respectively. These results indicate that the hydroxyanthraquinone moiety can inhibit NS3 helicase and suggest that several key chemical structures are important for the inhibition.

Keywords

NS3 helicase; fluorescence resonance energy transfer; hepatitis C virus; hydroxyanthraquinone; hypericin; inhibitor; sennidin A.

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