Porcine endogenous retrovirus-A/C: biochemical properties of its integrase and susceptibility to raltegravir

J Gen Virol. 2015 Oct;96(10):3124-3130. doi: 10.1099/jgv.0.000236. Epub 2015 Jul 9.

Abstract

Porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs) are present in the genomes of pig cells. The PERV-A/C recombinant virus can infect human cells and is a major risk of zoonotic disease in the case of xenotransplantation of pig organs to humans. Raltegravir (RAL) is a viral integrase (IN) inhibitor used in highly active antiretroviral treatment. In the present study, we explored the potential use of RAL against PERV-A/C. We report (i) a three-dimensional model of the PERV-A/C intasome complexed with RAL, (ii) the sensitivity of PERV-A/C IN to RAL in vitro and (iii) the sensitivity of a PERV-A/C-IRES-GFP recombinant virus to RAL in cellulo. We demonstrated that RAL is a potent inhibitor against PERV-A/C IN and PERV-A/C replication with IC50s in the nanomolar range. To date, the use of retroviral inhibitors remains the only way to control the risk of zoonotic PERV infection during pig-to-human xenotransplantation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antiviral Agents / chemistry
  • Antiviral Agents / pharmacology*
  • Crystallography, X-Ray
  • Endogenous Retroviruses / drug effects
  • Endogenous Retroviruses / enzymology*
  • Endogenous Retroviruses / physiology*
  • Inhibitory Concentration 50
  • Integrases / analysis*
  • Integrases / chemistry
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Conformation
  • Raltegravir Potassium / chemistry
  • Raltegravir Potassium / pharmacology*
  • Swine
  • Virus Integration / drug effects*

Substances

  • Antiviral Agents
  • Raltegravir Potassium
  • Integrases