Antifungals

Abstract

The need for new antifungal agents is undeniable. Current therapeutic choices for the treatment of invasive fungal infections are limited to three classes of drugs. Most used antifungal agents are not completely effective due to the development of resistance, host toxicity and undesirable side effects that limit their use in medical practice. Invasive fungal infections have significantly increased over the last decades and the mortality rates remain unacceptably high. More threatening, new resistance patterns have been observed including simultaneous resistance to different antifungal classes. In the last years, deeper insights into the molecular mechanisms for fungal resistance and virulence have yielded some new potential targets for antifungal therapeutics. Chemical genomics-based screenings, high throughput screenings of natural products and repurposing of approved drugs are some of the approaches being followed for the discovery of new antifungal molecules. However, despite the emerging need for effective antifungal agents, the current pipeline contains only a few promising molecules, with novel modes of action, in early clinical development stages.

Profile of Phenolic Compounds Released from Rice Bran by Rhizopus oryzae and Trichoderma reesei: Their Relation with Hydrolases Activity

“…Fungus growth in biomass can be evaluated by quantifying specific biochemical components of fungus cells, such as the content of ergosterol, which comprises the structure of the cell membrane (Campoy & Adrio, ; Deacon, ; Ruzicka, Edgerton, Norman, & Hill, ).…”

Preliminary antifungal activity assay of selected chlorine‐containing derivatives of xanthone and phenoxyethyl amines

“…The increased prevalence of fungal infections in recent years has been associated with advances in medicine (such as aggressive anticancer chemotherapy, broad‐spectrum antibacterial therapy and progress in transplantation) that make the immunocompromised patients vulnerable to fungal infection. Also subjects with weakened immune system resulting from HIV/AIDS infection are predisposed to mycoses . Invasive fungal infections are correlated with mortality rates exceeding 50%.…”

“…Other aetiological agents of invasive mycoses are Mucor spp., Rhizopus spp., Zygomycetes spp. and Fusarium spp …”

A Chitin-binding Protein Purified from Moringa oleifera Seeds Presents Anticandidal Activity by Increasing Cell Membrane Permeability and Reactive Oxygen Species Production

“…In this regard, chitin-binding proteins (CBP) can be highlighted due to their ability to interact with chitin, the main structural polysaccharide of fungal cell wall (Kanokwirron et al, 2008). The presence of chitin in fungal cell wall, where it performs relevant structural role for cell survival, and its absence in human cells, heighten chitin as a promising target for new antifungal drugs (Preechasuth et al, 2015; Campoy and Adrio, 2016). In literature, there are some reports on the antifungal effect of CBP against phytopathogenic fungi (Wang et al, 2012; Batista et al, 2014; Freitas C. D. et al, 2016), as well as against Candida spp.…”