Structure-based thermodynamic analysis of HIV-1 protease inhibitors

A structural parametrization of the binding and folding energetics previously developed in this laboratory accounts quantitatively for the binding of 13 HIV-1 protease inhibitors for which high-resolution structures are available (A77003, A78791, A76928, A74704, A76889, VX478, SB203386, SB203238, SB206343, U100313, U89360, A98881, CGP53820). The binding free energies for the inhibitors are predicted with a standard deviation of ±1.1 kcal/mol or ± 10%. Furthermore, the formalism correctly predicts the observed change in inhibition constant for the complex of A77003 and the resistant protease mutant V82A, for which the high-resolution structure is also available. The analysis presented here provides a structural mapping of the different contributions to the binding energetics. Comparison of the binding map with the residue stability map indicates that the binding pocket in the protease molecule has a dual character: half of the binding site is defined by the most stable region of the protein, while the other half is unstructured prior to inhibitor or substrate binding. This characteristic of the binding site accentuates cooperative effects that permit mutations in distal residues to have a significant effect on binding affinity. These results permit an initial assessment of the effects of mutations on the activity of protease inhibitors.