Guanidinobenzoic acid inhibitors of influenza virus neuraminidase

The active site of influenza virus neuraminidase (NA) is formed by 11 universally conserved residues. A guanidino group incorporated into two unrelated NA inhibitors was previously reported to occupy different negatively charged sites in the NA active site. A new inhibitor containing two guanidino groups was synthesized in order to utilize both sites in an attempt to acquire a combined increase in affinity. The X-ray crystal structures of the complexes show that the expected increase in affinity could not be achieved even though the added guanidino group binds to the negatively charged site as designed. This suggests that the ligand affinity to the target protein is contributed both from ligand-protein interactions and solvation/conformation energy of the ligand. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.