The Sound of Evolution
Indinavir
Mechanism of action:
Indinavir is an HIV protease inhibitor. The HIV viral protease is responsible for cleaving the viral precursor polyproteins Gag and Gag-Pol into functional structural proteins and enzymes. Indinavir binds with high affinity to the active site of the protease and competitively inhibits its enzymatic activity, causing the resulting viral particles to remain immature and noninfectious.
Reference(s):
1. Wittayanarakul K et al. (2008). Accurate prediction of protonation state as a prerequisite for reliable MM-PB(GB)SA binding free energy calculations of HIV-1 protease inhibitors. J Comput Chem.
2. Dandache S et al. (2007). In vitro antiviral activity and cross-resistance profile of PL-100, a novel protease inhibitor of human immunodeficiency virus type 1. Antimicrob Agents Chemother.