Helical sulfonyl-γ-AApeptides for the inhibition of HIV-1 fusion and HIF-1α signaling

Synthetic helical peptidic foldamers show promising applications in chemical biology and biomedical sciences by mimicking protein helical segments. Sulfonyl-γ-AApeptide helices developed by our group exhibit good chemodiversity, predictable folding structures, proteolytic resistance, favorable cell permeability, and enhanced bioavailability. Herein, in this minireview, we highlight two recent examples of homogeneous left-handed sulfonyl-γ-AApeptide helices to modulate protein–protein interactions (PPIs). One is sulfonyl-γ-AApeptides as anti-HIV-1 fusion inhibitors mimicking the helical C-terminal heptad repeat (CHR), which show excellent anti-HIV-1 activities through tight binding with the N-terminal heptad repeat (NHR) and inhibiting the formation of the 6-helical bundle (HB) structure. Another example is helical sulfonyl-γ-AApeptides disrupting hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) and p300 PPI, thus selectively inhibiting the relevant signaling cascade. We hope these findings could help to elucidate the principles of the structural design of sulfonyl-γ-AApeptides and inspire their future applications in PPI modulations.