Fungal infections are a universal problem and are routinely associated with high morbidity and mortality rates in immunocompromised patients. Existing therapies comprise five different classes of antifungal agents, four of which target the synthesis of ergosterol and cell wall glucans. However, the currently available antifungals have many limitations, including poor oral bioavailability, narrow therapeutic indices, and emerging drug resistance resulting from their use, thus making it essential to investigate the development of novel drugs which can overcome these limitations and add to the antifungal armamentarium. Advances have been made in antifungal drug discovery research and development over the past few years as evidenced by the presence of several new compounds currently in various stages of development. In the following minireview, we provide a comprehensive summary of compounds aimed at one or more novel molecular targets. We also briefly describe potential pathways relevant for fungal pathogenesis that can be considered for drug development in the near future.

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抗真菌药物治疗的未来：新型化合物和目标

真菌感染是一个普遍存在的问题，通常与免疫功能低下的患者高发病率和高死亡率相关。现有疗法包括五种不同类型的抗真菌剂，其中四种靶向麦角固醇和细胞壁葡聚糖的合成。然而，目前可用的抗真菌药具有许多局限性，包括口服生物利用度差，治疗指数狭窄以及因使用它们而产生的新药耐药性，因此，有必要研究能够克服这些局限性并增加抗真菌药库的新药的开发。 。在过去的几年中，抗真菌药物的研究和开发取得了进展，这一点可以从目前处于不同开发阶段的几种新化合物的存在中得到证明。在以下迷你评论中，我们提供了针对一种或多种新型分子靶标的化合物的综合摘要。我们还简要描述了与真菌发病机理相关的潜在途径，这些途径可在不久的将来用于药物开发。