.~ey wordr." Inhibition; Reverse transcriptase; Human ~mmunodeficiency virus; Oligo 4-thio-2'-deoxyuridylate: ~mtitemplate
• IntroductionReverse transcriptase (EC 2.7.7.49) represents one of the main targets in the development of the chemotherapy against HIV, the etiological agent of the acquired immunodeficiency .yndrome [1]. Therefore, a large number of nucleoside and non-nucleoside RT inhibitors have been studied recently as i~otential agents against AIDS [2][3][4][5].Chemically modified oligo-and polynucleotides have also ~een studied and characterized as inhibitory template (or '~rimer) analogs for DNA polymerases including RT. They rove been termed antitemplates [6]. The antitemplates interact vith proteins (i.e. template dependent nucleic acid polynerases) rather than nucleic acids (antisense effect). Their acivities are not strictly dependent on specific nucleic acid seluences. In addition to the nucleoside and non-nucleoside 'ype inhibitors the modified oligonucleotides are another class ,~f RT inhibitors.The most thoroughly studied inhibitory template analogs tre 5-mercaptopyrimidine-containing polynucleotides [7][8][9].['hey are potent inhibitors of the replication of HIV in prinary human lymphocytes [10]. The poly(U60,hsSU40) proved o be a potent competitive inhibitor of RT [11]. The phos~horothioate-linked and phosphorodithioate-linked oligoleoxycytidylate analogs are also potent competitive inhibitors ff viral DNA polymerases [12][13][14][15]. A pentose modified oligomcleotide, 13-4'-thio-oligouridylate, has been shown recently o interact with HIV-1 RT [16]. It was shown earlier that poly(s4U), a base modified polyribonucleotide, inhibits the virion-associated transcriptase of influenza A [17].In this paper we report the HIV-1 RT inhibitory activity of oligonucleotides containing s4dUMP.
Materials and methods
MaterialsThe unlabeled deoxyribonucleotides dTTP, dGTP ('Ultrapure') as well as poly(A) and poly(C) were Pharmacia products. The labelled nucleotides [aH]dTTP and [3H]dGTP were from Amersham. All other reagents were of the highest quality commercially available.HIV-1 RT was purchased from Worthington (Freehold, NJ). Its concentration was 8 U/gl, Lot No. 63E792N. The alkaline phosphatase (grade I) and phosphodiesterase (snake venom nuclease from Crotalus durissus) were purchased from Boehringer Mannheim (Germany).The template-primers were poly(A)'(dT)a~i and poly(C)'(dGh6, prepared as described earlier [1 I].The oligodeoxycytidylates were synthesized on a Pharmacia Gene Assembler Plus DNA synthesizer in our laboratory and purified by two precipitations with n-butanol.
Synthes& and character&ation of s4dU containing oligonucleotides,( dCx,s4 dUv ),~ The thiolated oligonucleotides were prepared by treating 1.5-3.5 mg of (dC)n (n = 10, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40), dissolved in aqueous pyridine, with liquid H2S [18,19] for 2-10 days at 35°C or 50°C, depending on the desired degree of thiolation. The modified oligonucleotides were isolated by ethanol precipitation as described for modified 5S rRNA [20], or ...