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Updated: Jun 17, 2025
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Engineering Antiviral Agents via Surface Plasmon Resonance
Published on: June 14, 2022
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Sulfoglycodendron Antivirals with Scalable Architectures and Activities.
Francesco Coppola1, Roya Jafari1, Katherine D McReynolds2
1Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607, USA.
Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology
|August 12, 2024
Summary
New sulfoglycodendron HSPG-mimetics show promise as broad-spectrum antivirals. These compounds effectively block viral entry by targeting heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPG) and viral protein receptors, acting as a molecular glue.
Area of Science:
- Virology
- Biochemistry
- Computational Biology
Background:
- Viruses utilize host cell surface molecules, including human heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPG), for cellular entry.
- Blocking these interactions is a key strategy for developing broad-spectrum antiviral therapies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To design and evaluate large sulfoglycodendron HSPG-mimetics as potential broad-spectrum antivirals.
- To investigate the binding mechanisms of these mimetics to viral protein receptors.
Main Methods:
- Atomistic molecular dynamics simulations were employed to analyze the binding interactions.
- Vectorial distributions of binding energies and space-dependent residual analysis were utilized.
Main Results:
- The designed HSPG-mimetics demonstrated effective blocking of multi-protein HSPG-receptors in viruses like HIV, SARS-CoV-2, HPV, and dengue.
- Analysis revealed that large, multivalent mimetics can act as a molecular glue, initiating protein receptor self-assembly.
Conclusions:
- Sulfoglycodendron HSPG-mimetics represent a promising class of broad-spectrum antiviral agents.
- Their multivalent binding capability offers a novel mechanism for inhibiting viral cell entry.
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