N-[2-(4-Methylphenyl)Ethyl]-N′-[2-(5-Bromopyridyl)]-Thiourea as a Potent Inhibitor of NNRTI-Resistant and Multidrug-Resistant Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1
The composite non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) binding pocket model was used to study a number of thiourea analogues with different substitutions at the 4-phenyl position including N-[2-(4-methylphenyl)ethyl]-N′-[2-(5-bromopyridyl)]-thiourea (compound HI-244), which inhibited recombinant RT better than trovirdine or compound HI-275 with an unsubstituted phenyl ring. HI-244 effectively inhibited the replication of HIV-1 strain HTLVIIIB in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells with an IC50 value of 0.007 μM, which is equal to the IC50 value of trovirdine. Notably, HI-244 was 20 times more effective than trovirdine against the multidrug-resistant HIV-1 strain RT-MDR with a V106A mutation (as well as additional mutations involving the RT residues 74 V, 41L and 215Y) and seven times more potent than trovirdine against the NNRTI- resistant HIV-1 strain A17 with a Y181C mutation.