Antifungals targeted to the cell wall

Abstract

Serious fungal infections are increasingly common in immunocompromised patients and existing antifungals do not completely satisfy the medical need. The latter have either considerable toxicity, e.g., amphotericin, which is, however, less toxic in lipid formulations, or have limited activity, e.g., azoles. Cell wall acting antifungals are inherently selective and fungicidal; two classes of compounds--nikkomycin Z targeted at chitin synthase, and echinocandin LY 303366 and pneumocandin L-743,872 targeted at alpha-1,3-glucan synthase--are currently in clinical development.