HIV‑1 X4 Activities of Polycationic “Viologen” Based Dendrimers by Interaction with the Chemokine Receptor CXCR4: Study of Structure–Activity Relationship

A series of “viologen” based dendrimers with polycationic scaffold carrying 10, 18, 26, 42, and 90 charges per molecule were used to determine the structure–activity relationship (SAR) with regard to HIV-1 inhibitory activity. The studies involved five compounds with a high activity against HIV-1 already utilized in our previous study and five new dendrimers. Such dendrimers block HIV-1 entry into the cell, indicating that they bind to HIV-1 surface proteins and/or on the host cell receptors required for entry. The increasing positive character of dendrimers leads to more cytotoxicity. The 10 charges dendrimers (1, 6) have less influence on the cell viability but low inhibition of the binding of the CXCR4 mAb clone 1D9. Thus, dendrimers with 18 charges (2, 7) are the most promising CXCR4 imaging probes. We report the design, synthesis, and biological activity of new HIV-1 inhibitors that are conceptually distinct from those of the existing HIV-1 inhibitors.