AZT and AZT-monophosphate Prodrugs Incorporating HIV-protease Substrate Fragment: Synthesis and Evaluation as Specific Drug Delivery Systems

With the view to deliver anti-HIV nucleoside and nucleoside-monophosphate (MP) analogues specifically into HIV-infected cells, we synthesized a series of ester and phosphoramidate peptide conjugates of zidovudine (AZT) and of AZT-MP, respectively, wherein the peptide sequences derive from a HIV-protease (PR) hydrolysable substrate. Their in vitro stability with respect to hydrolysis, anti-HIV activity and cytotoxicity, and ability to inhibit the HIV-PR activity were investigated. Concerning the ester AZT-peptide conjugates, their antiviral activity level in thymidine kinase-expressing (TK⁺) CEM-SS and MT-4 cells was in most cases closely correlated to their hydrolysis rate: the faster the hydrolysis, the closer the anti-HIV activity to that of AZT. None of them was a HIV-PR substrate, indicating that their antiviral activity was not related to their intracellular hydrolysis by this enzyme. None of them inhibited HIV in TK-deficient (TK⁻) CEM cells, demonstrating that they probably act as prodrugs of AZT. Most of the phosphoramidate peptide conjugates of AZT-MP were rapidly degraded in a physiological buffer into several metabolites including AZT. Their anti-HIV activity in TK⁺ CEM-SS and MT-4 cells was much lower than that of AZT, indicating that only low amounts of AZT or AZT-MP were released into cells during incubation. Antiviral activities measured on TK⁻ CEM cells for some phosphoramidates suggest that low amounts of AZT-MP could be released intracellularly. However, this AZT-MP release was not initiated by a HIV-PR hydrolysis, as no evidence for peptide cleavage was obtained by HPLC analysis of one representative compound after incubation with HIV-PR.