Measles virus (MV) is one of the most infectious pathogens known. Despite the existence of a vaccine,over 500 000 deaths/year result from MV or associated complications. Anti-measles compounds couldconceivably reverse these statistics. Previously, we described a homology model of the MV fusion proteintrimer and a putative binding site near the head-neck region. The resulting model permitted the identificationof two nonpeptidic entry inhibitors. Here, we present the design, synthesis, and bioevaluation of severalseries of fusion inhibitors and describe their structure-activity relationships (SAR). Five simply substitutedanilides show low-
M blockade of the MV, one of which (AS-48) exhibits IC
50 = 0.6-3.0
M across apanel of wild-type MV strains found in the field. Molecular field topology analysis (MFTA), a 2D QSARapproach based on local molecular properties (atomic charges, hydrogen-bonding capacity and locallipophilicity), applied to the anilide series suggests structural modifications to improve potency.