Loading patent…
AssigneeThe United States of America, as represented by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services
InventorsLouis E. Henderson, Larry O. Arthur, William G. Rice
Estimating the term…
The present invention provides several classes of compounds which can be used to inactivate retroviruses, such as HIV-1, by attacking the CCHC zinc fingers of the viral nucleocapsid protein and ejecting the zinc therefrom. In addition, kits for identifying compounds that can react with CCHC zinc fingers of the nucleocapsid proteins of a large number of different retroviruses have also been developed. The kits of the present invention describe a set of specific tests and reagents that can be used to screen and identify compounds based on their ability to react with and disrupt retroviral zinc fingers in the viral NC proteins and, in turn, inactivate the retrovirus of interest.
A composition comprising an inactivated intact retrovirus, wherein the intact retrovirus is inactivated due to disruption of one or more CCHC zinc fingers in a nucleocapsid protein by contact with a membrane permeant compound selected from the group consisting of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.