Publications

Infection of hamsters with the murine flavivirus Modoc results in (meningo) encephalitis, which is, during the acute phase, frequently associated with flaccid paralysis, as also observed in patients with West Nile virus encephalitis. Twenty percent of the hamsters that recover from the acute encephalitis develop life‐long neurological sequelae, reminiscent of those observed, for example, in survivors of Japanese encephalitis. Magnetic resonance imaging and histology revealed severe lesions predominantly located in the olfactory‐limbic system, both in hamsters with acute encephalitis as in survivors. Prominent pathology was also detected in the spinal cord of hamsters with paralysis. Modoc virus infections in hamsters provide a unique model for the study of encephalitis, a poliomyelitis‐like syndrome and neurological sequelae following flavivirus infection.

Coupling of 5-dwxy-2,3-Q-isopropylidene-~-ribono-l,4-lactone (5) with 2 -l i t h i o -4 -( 4 , 5 -d i h y d r o -4 , 4 -d i m e t h y l o x ~n e (6).subsequent mesylation, followed by reduction and ammonolysis resulted in the formation of 2-(5dwxy-P-g-ribofuranosy1)pyridine-4-cxade (4).The anomeric configuration was established with 2D-NOESY-'H-nmr-spectroscopy.Conformational analysis was done with the aid of the high resolution 'H-nmrspechoscopy data.Compound (4) possessed modest cytostatic activity against a number of tumor cell lines and was slightly inhibitory to vaccinia virus and vesicular stomatitis virus.

Abstract Reaction of the silylated 6,7-dihaloquinoline bases 10–12 with l-O-acetyl-2,3,5-tri-O-benzoyl-β-D-ribofuranose (13) gave ethyl 7-chloro-6-flouro-l,4-dihydro-4-oxo-1 -(2,3,5-tri-O-benzoyl-β-D-ribofuranosyl)quinoline-3-carboxylate (14) and the free acids 15 and 16, respectively, which led on deblocking of the sugar moiety to the free nucleosides 17, 18 and 20, respectively. Treatment of 14 with methanolic ammonia afforded the amide derivative 19. Ribosylation of 11 with l,2-di-O-acetyl-3-azido-3-deoxy-5-p-toluoyl-β-D-ribofuranose (21) afforded the azido nucleoside 22, which was again converted into the free nucleoside 23. Analogously, reaction of 11 with the chloro deoxyribose derivative 24 led to a mixture of α /β (2:1) anomers of 25. Deblocking and recrystallization of the product gave mainly the α-anomer 26. Compounds 17–19, 23 and 26 were evaluated against Escherichia coli and found inactive. Compound 16–18 and 22 were inactive aganist HIV-1 (III B) and HIV-2 (ROD) induced cytopathicity in human MT-4 lymphocyte cells.

Topical applications of cidofovir, an antiviral compound with activity against human papilloma virus, is effective in the majority of patients with perianal condylomata and is a valuable adjuvant to surgical treatment of these lesions.

The acyclic nucleoside phosphonate (ANP) family of drugs shows promise as therapeutics for treating poxvirus infections. However, it has been questioned whether the utility of these compounds could be compromised through the intentional genetic modification of viral sequences by bioterrorists or the selection of drug resistance viruses during the course of antiviral therapy. To address these concerns, vaccinia virus (strain Lederle) was passaged 40 times in medium containing an escalating dose of (S)-1-[3-hydroxy-2-(phosphonomethoxypropyl)-2,6-diaminopurine [(S)-HPMPDAP], which selected for mutant viruses exhibiting a approximately 15-fold-increased resistance to the drug. (S)-HPMPDAP-resistant viruses were generated because this compound was shown to be one of the most highly selective and effective ANPs for the treatment of poxvirus infections. DNA sequence analysis revealed that these viruses encoded mutations in the E9L (DNA polymerase) gene, and marker rescue studies showed that the phenotype was produced by a combination of two (A684V and S851Y) substitution mutations. The effects of these mutations on drug resistance were tested against various ANPs, both separately and collectively, and compared with E9L A314T and A684V mutations previously isolated using selection for resistance to cidofovir, i.e., (S)-1-[3-hydroxy-2-(phosphonomethoxypropyl)cytosine]. These studies demonstrated a complex pattern of resistance, although as a general rule, the double-mutant viruses exhibited greater resistance to the deoxyadenosine than to deoxycytidine nucleotide analogs. The S851Y mutant virus exhibited a low level of resistance to dCMP analogues but high-level resistance to dAMP analogues and to 6-[3-hydroxy-2-(phosphonomethoxy)propoxy]-2,4-diaminopyrimidine, which is considered to mimic the purine ring system. Notably, (S)-9-[3-hydroxy-2-(phosphonomethoxy)propyl]-3-deazaadenine retained marked activity against most of these mutant viruses. In vitro studies showed that the A684V mutation partially suppressed a virus growth defect and mutator phenotype created by the S851Y mutation, but all of the mutant viruses still exhibited a variable degree of reduced virulence in a mouse intranasal challenge model. Infections caused by these drug-resistant viruses in mice were still treatable with higher concentrations of the ANPs. These studies have identified a novel mechanism for the development of mutator DNA polymerases and provide further evidence that antipoxviral therapeutic strategies would not readily be undermined by selection for resistance to ANP drugs.

A series of potential prodrug 5-halouridine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphates (5-X-cUMPs, X = F, Cl, Br, I, 1-4) has been prepared and tested for antitumor activity against murine leukemia L1210/0 and human lymphoblast Raji/0 cells and their deoxythymidine kinase deficient (TK-) counterparts, as well as for antiviral activity in primary rabbit kidney cells infected with herpes simplex virus type 1 or 2, vaccinia virus, or vesicular stomatitis virus. The 5-halopyrimidine bases, nucleosides (5-X-U), and 5'-monophosphates (5-X-UMP) were tested for comparison. 5-F-cUMP (1) showed reasonably potent inhibition of tumor cell proliferation (ID50 = 0.33-1.6 micrograms/mL), while the remaining diesters displayed ID50's ranging from 210 to greater than 1000 micrograms/mL. 5-F-cUMP was 70- to 300-fold less active than 5-F-dU in the same systems. With TK- L1210 cells, 5-F-cUMP was as potent as with the normal (L1210/0) line but was about fourfold less active with TK- Raji cells compared to Raji/0 cells. The 5-X-cUMPs showed little potency as antivirals. A single-crystal X-ray analysis of the ammonium salt of 5-I-cUMP confirmed its structure and showed the conformation of the phosphate ring to be the expected chair. The ribose pucker is near 3(4)T, and the torsion angle about the beta-glycosidic N(1)-C(1') bond is in the syn range (-84.8 degrees).