Rethinking the targets for antifungal development
Jessica L Chitty A and James A Fraser A BA School of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia
B Email: jafraser@uq.edu.au
Microbiology Australia 36(2) 88-89 https://doi.org/10.1071/MA15028
Published: 20 March 2015
Abstract
Cryptococcus neoformans is the leading cause of fungal meningoencephalitis and one of the major causes of death in immunocompromised individuals; this AIDS-defining illness has a reported fatality rate of up to 20% in high-income countries such as Australia, and as high as 65% in developing nations1,2. The current treatment regime recommended by the World Health Organization is induction therapy with flucytosine and amphotericin B, followed by maintenance and consolidation therapy of fluconazole3. Development of resistance to these drugs is an ever-present threat given the pathogen undergoes microevolution while infecting the host, with evidence that this contributes to the high rate of relapse. It is therefore essential that we develop additional classes of antifungal drugs, particularly ones that are more effective than those currently available. But due to the shared eukaryotic physiology of fungi and humans, gross differences that can be exploited as drug targets such as those targeted by current antifungals are limited.
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