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Fungal Drug Discovery for Chronic Disease: History, New Discoveries and New Approaches

Summary

This article examines how fungi have provided humanity with some of the most important medicines ever created, including penicillin, drugs that prevent organ rejection, and cholesterol-lowering statins. Many of these fungal compounds work as medicines because they target processes that are similar in both fungi and humans, helping them survive competition with other fungi while coincidentally treating human diseases. New researchers are now using modern genetic tools to discover additional fungal medicines, with several promising candidates currently being tested in clinical trials for cancer, depression, and other chronic diseases.

Background

Fungi have been the source of some of the most important drugs ever discovered, including penicillin, immunosuppressants, and statins that have saved millions of lives. However, by the late 1990s, screening programs were failing to produce promising new compounds as the easily discoverable drugs had already been found. Recently, fungal drug discovery is making a comeback with new commercial players applying novel genomic approaches.

Objective

This review examines the discovery history of approved fungal-derived drugs and those currently in clinical trials for treating chronic diseases. The authors discuss the ecological functions of key fungal metabolites in nature and how this relates to their therapeutic use in humans, including the role of self-resistance mechanisms.

Results

The review identifies numerous approved fungal drugs across therapeutic areas including antibiotics, antifungal agents, immunosuppressants, and cholesterol-lowering drugs. Several compounds are currently in clinical trials for cancer, depression, and epilepsy, with many showing evidence of efficacy. The authors demonstrate that self-resistance genes in producing fungi often duplicate the actual pharmacological targets.

Conclusion

Fungal-derived drugs represent a major source of chronic disease therapeutics, with new discoveries emerging through novel genomic approaches. Understanding the ecological functions and self-resistance mechanisms of fungal metabolites provides valuable insights for drug discovery and development of novel therapeutics.
  • Published in:Biomolecules,
  • Study Type:Review,
  • Source: 37371566
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