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Sources of Antifungal Drugs
Due to their eukaryotic heritage, the differences between a fungal pathogen’s molecular makeup and its human host are small. Therefore, the discovery and subsequent development of novel antifungal drugs are extremely challenging. Nevertheless, since the 1940s, researchers have successfully uncovered...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9965926/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36836286 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jof9020171 |
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author | Vanreppelen, Giel Wuyts, Jurgen Van Dijck, Patrick Vandecruys, Paul |
author_facet | Vanreppelen, Giel Wuyts, Jurgen Van Dijck, Patrick Vandecruys, Paul |
author_sort | Vanreppelen, Giel |
collection | PubMed |
description | Due to their eukaryotic heritage, the differences between a fungal pathogen’s molecular makeup and its human host are small. Therefore, the discovery and subsequent development of novel antifungal drugs are extremely challenging. Nevertheless, since the 1940s, researchers have successfully uncovered potent candidates from natural or synthetic sources. Analogs and novel formulations of these drugs enhanced the pharmacological parameters and improved overall drug efficiency. These compounds ultimately became the founding members of novel drug classes and were successfully applied in clinical settings, offering valuable and efficient treatment of mycosis for decades. Currently, only five different antifungal drug classes exist, all characterized by a unique mode of action; these are polyenes, pyrimidine analogs, azoles, allylamines, and echinocandins. The latter, being the latest addition to the antifungal armamentarium, was introduced over two decades ago. As a result of this limited arsenal, antifungal resistance development has exponentially increased and, with it, a growing healthcare crisis. In this review, we discuss the original sources of antifungal compounds, either natural or synthetic. Additionally, we summarize the existing drug classes, potential novel candidates in the clinical pipeline, and emerging non-traditional treatment options. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9965926 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-99659262023-02-26 Sources of Antifungal Drugs Vanreppelen, Giel Wuyts, Jurgen Van Dijck, Patrick Vandecruys, Paul J Fungi (Basel) Review Due to their eukaryotic heritage, the differences between a fungal pathogen’s molecular makeup and its human host are small. Therefore, the discovery and subsequent development of novel antifungal drugs are extremely challenging. Nevertheless, since the 1940s, researchers have successfully uncovered potent candidates from natural or synthetic sources. Analogs and novel formulations of these drugs enhanced the pharmacological parameters and improved overall drug efficiency. These compounds ultimately became the founding members of novel drug classes and were successfully applied in clinical settings, offering valuable and efficient treatment of mycosis for decades. Currently, only five different antifungal drug classes exist, all characterized by a unique mode of action; these are polyenes, pyrimidine analogs, azoles, allylamines, and echinocandins. The latter, being the latest addition to the antifungal armamentarium, was introduced over two decades ago. As a result of this limited arsenal, antifungal resistance development has exponentially increased and, with it, a growing healthcare crisis. In this review, we discuss the original sources of antifungal compounds, either natural or synthetic. Additionally, we summarize the existing drug classes, potential novel candidates in the clinical pipeline, and emerging non-traditional treatment options. MDPI 2023-01-28 /pmc/articles/PMC9965926/ /pubmed/36836286 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jof9020171 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Review Vanreppelen, Giel Wuyts, Jurgen Van Dijck, Patrick Vandecruys, Paul Sources of Antifungal Drugs |
title | Sources of Antifungal Drugs |
title_full | Sources of Antifungal Drugs |
title_fullStr | Sources of Antifungal Drugs |
title_full_unstemmed | Sources of Antifungal Drugs |
title_short | Sources of Antifungal Drugs |
title_sort | sources of antifungal drugs |
topic | Review |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9965926/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36836286 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jof9020171 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT vanreppelengiel sourcesofantifungaldrugs AT wuytsjurgen sourcesofantifungaldrugs AT vandijckpatrick sourcesofantifungaldrugs AT vandecruyspaul sourcesofantifungaldrugs |