Antifungal Resistance, Metabolic Routes as Drug Targets, and New Antifungal Agents: An Overview about Endemic Dimorphic Fungi

Diseases caused by fungi can occur in healthy people, but immunocompromised patients are the major risk group for invasive fungal infections. Cases of fungal resistance and the difficulty of treatment make fungal infections a public health problem. This review explores mechanisms used by fungi to pr...

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Main Authors: Juliana Alves Parente-Rocha, Alexandre Melo Bailão, André Correa Amaral, Carlos Pelleschi Taborda, Juliano Domiraci Paccez, Clayton Luiz Borges, Maristela Pereira
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2017-01-01
Series:Mediators of Inflammation
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/9870679
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author Juliana Alves Parente-Rocha
Alexandre Melo Bailão
André Correa Amaral
Carlos Pelleschi Taborda
Juliano Domiraci Paccez
Clayton Luiz Borges
Maristela Pereira
author_facet Juliana Alves Parente-Rocha
Alexandre Melo Bailão
André Correa Amaral
Carlos Pelleschi Taborda
Juliano Domiraci Paccez
Clayton Luiz Borges
Maristela Pereira
author_sort Juliana Alves Parente-Rocha
collection DOAJ
description Diseases caused by fungi can occur in healthy people, but immunocompromised patients are the major risk group for invasive fungal infections. Cases of fungal resistance and the difficulty of treatment make fungal infections a public health problem. This review explores mechanisms used by fungi to promote fungal resistance, such as the mutation or overexpression of drug targets, efflux and degradation systems, and pleiotropic drug responses. Alternative novel drug targets have been investigated; these include metabolic routes used by fungi during infection, such as trehalose and amino acid metabolism and mitochondrial proteins. An overview of new antifungal agents, including nanostructured antifungals, as well as of repositioning approaches is discussed. Studies focusing on the development of vaccines against antifungal diseases have increased in recent years, as these strategies can be applied in combination with antifungal therapy to prevent posttreatment sequelae. Studies focused on the development of a pan-fungal vaccine and antifungal drugs can improve the treatment of immunocompromised patients and reduce treatment costs.
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institution DOAJ
issn 0962-9351
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language English
publishDate 2017-01-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series Mediators of Inflammation
spelling doaj-art-ea98cdfeacad4daca923e98e621ed3382025-08-20T03:21:11ZengWileyMediators of Inflammation0962-93511466-18612017-01-01201710.1155/2017/98706799870679Antifungal Resistance, Metabolic Routes as Drug Targets, and New Antifungal Agents: An Overview about Endemic Dimorphic FungiJuliana Alves Parente-Rocha0Alexandre Melo Bailão1André Correa Amaral2Carlos Pelleschi Taborda3Juliano Domiraci Paccez4Clayton Luiz Borges5Maristela Pereira6Departamento de Bioquímica e Biologia Molecular, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, GO, BrazilDepartamento de Bioquímica e Biologia Molecular, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, GO, BrazilInstituto de Patologia Tropical e Saúde Pública, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, GO, BrazilDepartamento de Microbiologia do Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas e Laboratório de Micologia Médica LIM53/IMTSP, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, BrazilDepartamento de Bioquímica e Biologia Molecular, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, GO, BrazilDepartamento de Bioquímica e Biologia Molecular, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, GO, BrazilDepartamento de Bioquímica e Biologia Molecular, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, GO, BrazilDiseases caused by fungi can occur in healthy people, but immunocompromised patients are the major risk group for invasive fungal infections. Cases of fungal resistance and the difficulty of treatment make fungal infections a public health problem. This review explores mechanisms used by fungi to promote fungal resistance, such as the mutation or overexpression of drug targets, efflux and degradation systems, and pleiotropic drug responses. Alternative novel drug targets have been investigated; these include metabolic routes used by fungi during infection, such as trehalose and amino acid metabolism and mitochondrial proteins. An overview of new antifungal agents, including nanostructured antifungals, as well as of repositioning approaches is discussed. Studies focusing on the development of vaccines against antifungal diseases have increased in recent years, as these strategies can be applied in combination with antifungal therapy to prevent posttreatment sequelae. Studies focused on the development of a pan-fungal vaccine and antifungal drugs can improve the treatment of immunocompromised patients and reduce treatment costs.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/9870679
spellingShingle Juliana Alves Parente-Rocha
Alexandre Melo Bailão
André Correa Amaral
Carlos Pelleschi Taborda
Juliano Domiraci Paccez
Clayton Luiz Borges
Maristela Pereira
Antifungal Resistance, Metabolic Routes as Drug Targets, and New Antifungal Agents: An Overview about Endemic Dimorphic Fungi
Mediators of Inflammation
title Antifungal Resistance, Metabolic Routes as Drug Targets, and New Antifungal Agents: An Overview about Endemic Dimorphic Fungi
title_full Antifungal Resistance, Metabolic Routes as Drug Targets, and New Antifungal Agents: An Overview about Endemic Dimorphic Fungi
title_fullStr Antifungal Resistance, Metabolic Routes as Drug Targets, and New Antifungal Agents: An Overview about Endemic Dimorphic Fungi
title_full_unstemmed Antifungal Resistance, Metabolic Routes as Drug Targets, and New Antifungal Agents: An Overview about Endemic Dimorphic Fungi
title_short Antifungal Resistance, Metabolic Routes as Drug Targets, and New Antifungal Agents: An Overview about Endemic Dimorphic Fungi
title_sort antifungal resistance metabolic routes as drug targets and new antifungal agents an overview about endemic dimorphic fungi
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/9870679
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