BACE1 is an aspartyl protease responsible for cleavingamyloid precursor protein to liberate A
, which aggregates leading toplaque deposits implicated in Alzheimer's disease. We have identifiedsmall-molecule acylguanidine inhibitors of BACE1. Crystallographicstudies show that these compounds form unique hydrogen-bondinginteractions with the catalytic site aspartic acids and stabilize the proteinin a flap-open conformation. Structure-based optimization led to theidentification of potent analogs, such as
10d (BACE1 IC
50 = 110 nM).