Cochlioquinones and epi-cochlioquinones: antagonists of the human chemokine receptor CCR5 from Bipolaris brizae and Stachybotrys chartarum.

Chemokines are small proteins (7-16kDa) that act at G protein-coupled receptors to regulate a variety of physiological and pathophysiological processes1,2). The human immunodeficiency virus Type 1 (HIV-1) principally uses CCR5 and CXCR4 chemokine receptors as coreceptors with CD4 to gain entry into target cells3,4). Therefore, a molecule that binds to the CCR5 receptor could potentially prevent HIV-1 entry into cells, which makes CCR5 an important target for anti-HIV-1 therapy5). In the course of screening our extract library for inhibitors of CCR56,7), extracts from Bipolaris brizae (Nisikado) Shoem and Stachybotrys chartarum were found