Fragment-based approach to the design of ligands targeting a novel site on HIV-1 integrase: data

More than 15,000 Australians and 40 million people worldwide are currently infected with HIV, which leads to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). HIV treatments are available that slow the progression of AIDS: these include drugs that block the action of a protein called integrase, which is essential for replication of the virus. For more than seven years, Drs Martin Scanlon and David Chalmers from Monash University worked with Drs David Rhodes and John Deadman (Avexa Ltd) and Prof Michael Parker and Dr Jerome Wielens (St. Vincent’s Institute) on a drug-design research project to develop new drugs to inhibit the HIV integrase enzyme. A combination of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) fragment screening, X-ray crystallography and computational studies and biological studies have produced one of the most well-established and largest datasets of this kind in this field. The project made use of facilities at the Australian Synchrotron and Chicago Synchrotron, as well as at Bio21 (University of Melbourne).