Identifying compounds that disrupt formation of critical gp41 six-helix bundle and conformations necessary for HIV entry thereby blocking virus entry to the cell

摘要

Described are methods for identifying compounds that inhibit or prevent infection of cells by enveloped viruses such as HIV-1 by preventing or disrupting conformational changes in the viral transmembrane protein that are required for virus fusion with those cells, and the compounds discovered by such methods. These methods are also used as diagnostic assays to detect antibodies in virus infected individuals that inhibit the viral entry processes.