The site of antiviral action of 3-nitrosobenzamide on the infectivity process of human immunodeficiency virus in human lymphocytes.

W G Rice, C A Schaeffer, L Graham, M Bu, J S McDougal, S L Orloff, F Villinger, M Young, S Oroszlan, M R Fesen

Index: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 90 , 9721, (1993)

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Abstract

The C-nitroso compound 3-nitrosobenzamide, which has been shown to remove zinc from the retroviral-type zinc finger of p7NC nucleocapsid proteins, inhibits acute infection of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in cultured human lymphocytes. The attachment of the virus to lymphocytes and the activities of critical viral enzymes, such as reverse transcriptase, protease, and integrase, are not affected by 3-nitrosobenzamide. However, the process of reverse transcription to form proviral DNA is effectively abolished by the drug, identifying the mode of action of 3-nitrosobenzamide as interrupting the role of p7NC in accurate proviral DNA synthesis during the infectious phase of the virus life cycle.