{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T22:25:29Z","timestamp":1785795929457,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,7]],"date-time":"2023-02-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1675728000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity (Academy of Military Medical Sciences)","award":["SKLPBS2114"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SKLPBS2114"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Molecules"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The Lassa virus (LASV) causes Lassa fever, a highly infectious and lethal agent of acute viral hemorrhagic fever. At present, there are still no effective treatments available, creating an urgent need to develop novel therapeutics. Some benzimidazole compounds targeting the arenavirus envelope glycoprotein complex (GPC) are promising inhibitors of LASV. In this study, we synthesized two series of LASV inhibitors based on the benzimidazole structure. Lentiviral pseudotypes bearing the LASV GPC were established to identify virus entry inhibitors. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) was further used to verify the binding activities of the potential compounds. Compounds 7d\u2212Z, 7h\u2212Z, 13c, 13d, and 13f showed relatively excellent antiviral activities with IC50 values ranging from 7.58 to 15.46 nM and their SI values above 1251. These five representative compounds exhibited stronger binding affinity with low equilibrium dissociation constants (KD &lt; 8.25 \u00d7 10\u22127 M) in SPR study. The compound 7h\u2212Z displayed the most potent antiviral activity (IC50 = 7.58 nM) with a relatively high SI value (2496), which could be further studied as a lead compound. The structure\u2013activity relationship indicated that the compounds with lipophilic and spatially larger substituents might possess higher antiviral activity and a much larger safety margin. This study will provide some good guidance for the development of highly active compounds with a novel skeleton against LASV.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules28041579","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,8]],"date-time":"2023-02-08T01:32:05Z","timestamp":1675819925000},"page":"1579","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":18,"title":["Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Benzimidazole Derivatives as Potential Lassa Virus Inhibitors"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"28","author":[{"given":"Jinwei","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Pharmacy, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China"},{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing 100071, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Likun","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing 100071, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Baogang","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing 100071, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dongna","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing 100071, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Liangliang","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing 100071, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhuchun","family":"Bei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing 100071, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yabin","family":"Song","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Pharmacy, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China"},{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing 100071, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"(2022, December 25). 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