Biochemical and structural comparisons of non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors against feline and human immunodeficiency viruses

Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) causes an immunodeficiency syndrome in cats with no effective treatment, so this study tested three non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors used against HIV, nevirapine, efavirenz, and rilpivirine, on the feline enzyme. Purified feline and human reverse transcriptase were compared using IC50 measurements, surface plasmon resonance binding assays, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics simulations, and all three drugs bound both enzymes with IC50 values in comparable ranges. The authors suggest these drugs could inhibit the feline enzyme too, giving a possible route to treatment for a disease that currently has none.