Mullins Molecular Retrovirology Lab

  • Department of Microbiology
  • School of Medicine
  • University of Washington
University of Washington/Fred Hutch Center for AIDS Research

Citation Information

Wu VH, Smith RA, Masoum S, Raugi DN, Ba S, Seydi M, Grobler JA, Gottlieb GS, University of Washington–Dakar HIV-2 Study Group (2017). MK-8591 (4'-Ethynyl-2-Fluoro-2'-Deoxyadenosine) Exhibits Potent Activity against HIV-2 Isolates and Drug-Resistant HIV-2 Mutants in Culture. Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy (ePub ahead of print). (pubmed) (doi)

Abstract

There is a pressing need to identify more effective antiretroviral drugs for HIV-2 treatment. Here, we show that the investigational compound MK-8591 (4'-ethynyl-2-fluoro-2'-deoxyadenosine [EFdA]) is highly active against group A and B isolates of HIV-2; 50% effective concentrations [EC50] for HIV-2 were, on average, 4.8-fold lower than those observed for HIV-1. MK-8591 also retains potent activity against multinucleoside-resistant HIV-2 mutants (EC50 ≤ 11 nM). These data suggest that MK-8591 may have antiviral activity in HIV-2-infected individuals.