Computer-Assisted Analysis of the Interactions of Macrocyclic Inhibitors with wild Type and Mutant D168A Hepatitis C Virus NS3 Serine Protease

The high frequency of treatment failures suggests the need for more specific, less toxic and more active antiviral therapies for the Hepatitis C virus (HCV). HCV NS3 is currently regarded as a prime target for anti-viral drugs, thus, molecular modeling studies were used to try to understand the interaction of BILN 2061 macrocyclic analogs with the wild-type and the D168A mutant NS3 serine protease, with the aim of rendering them better therapeutic agents of the Hepatitis C virus infection.