Author:

M. F. Vicente, A. Basilio, A. Cabello and F. Peláez

Date: 23 January 2003

Abstract:

The vast number and variety of chemotherapeutic agents isolated from microbial naturalproducts and used to treat bacterial infections have greatly contributed to the improvementof human health during the past century. However, only a limited number ofantifungal agents (polyenes and azoles, plus the recently introduced caspofungin acetate)are currently available for the treatment of life-threatening fungal infections. Furthermore,the prevalence of systemic fungal infections has increased significantly during thepast decade. For this reason, the development of new antifungal agents, preferably withnovel mechanisms of action, is an urgent medical need.Aselection of antifungal agents inearly stages of development, produced by micro-organisms, is summarized in thisreview. The compounds are classified according to their mechanisms of action, coveringinhibitors of the synthesis of cell wall components (glucan, chitin and mannoproteins), ofsphingolipid synthesis (serine palmitoyltransferase, ceramide synthase, inositol phosphoceramidesynthase and fatty acid elongation) and of protein synthesis (sordarins). Inaddition, some considerations related to the chemotaxonomy of the producing organismsand some issues relevant to antifungal drug discovery are also discussed.

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