A class of newly discovered drugs could one day lead to revolutionary treatments for fungal infections

A research team from McMaster University has discovered a new drug class that could one day lead to revolutionary. Furthermore, treatments for dangerous fungal infections.

The new molecules. Furthermore, nicknamed coniotins, have been isolated from a living vegetable fungus called Coniochaeta hoffmannii – samples of which were collected on the McMaster greenhouse, located on the university campus.

Recently detailed in the newspaper Nature communicationsThe discovery meets a critical need for new antifungal drugs.

There is a huge growing clinical need for new drugs that target fungal infections. Additionally, Furthermore, Unlike antibiotics. Nevertheless, of which there are dozens of different classes approved for use in clinics, there are really only three antifungal classes on the market at the moment. Similarly, “”

Gerry Wright, professor of biochemistry and class newly discovered drugs could biomedical sciences at McMaster and principal researcher on the new study

The reason for such a limited arsenal, says Wright, is twofold.

First. However, although fungi causing the disease are microscopic like bacteria and viruses, they are in fact more closely linked to humans than to other microbes-“so things that kill mushrooms tend to kill us too,” he said. Furthermore, It is to find antifungals that are safe for human consumption a real challenge.

And then there is the historical lack of emergency. Consequently, Wright says that most mushrooms cannot withstand our internal body temperature and generally die before they can cause serious infection. Moreover, This is why fungal infections generally occur on we instead of In We – think of the athlete’s foot. for example. Because our body can generally manage these pathogens naturally. Wright says that there has been little incitement for pharmaceutical companies to invest in class newly discovered drugs could antifungal R&D – until recently.

“Discovery remains a challenge today, but the level of emergency has radically changed in the past 15 years,” he said. “In 2009. a new fungal pathogen called Candida auris emerged all over the world, and this fungus thrives at higher temperatures – and it can also be extremely resistant to medication. “”

C. ear is particularly problematic for people with compromise immune systems, such as cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. It can infect the lungs, blood circulation and the nervous system, and can be fatal. For these reasons, C. ear is at the top of the list of priority fungal pathogens of the World Health Organization.

It is then a good thing that the new Wright Lab molecule has a powerful activity against C. ear.

Indeed, the research team has shown that coniotins attack not only C. ear And several other fungal pathogenic agents, class newly discovered drugs could but make it without harm to human cells.

The new molecules work unlike any other antifungal on the market. When most proteins and membranes target, coniotins are rather binding to the fungal cell wall.

Wright, member of the Michael G. Degroote Institute for research on McMaster’s infectious diseases. compares the cell wall with a candy coating on an M&M – a protective shell that provides structural integrity for what is inside. The disturbance of this structure, as coniotins do, fundamentally changes the way in which the organism can survive.

Xufei Chen. a postdoctoral scholarship holder in the Wright laboratory and the first author on the new article, identified the new class of drugs through a process called pre -preferab, which allows scientists to tease specific molecules from complex chemical mixtures.

“Since the golden age of the discovery of antibiotics. progress has slowed down, mainly due to the frequent rediscovery of class newly discovered drugs could known compounds,” she said. “To remedy this, we have implemented an approach to screening targeted or masked metabolites.

Using this same process, Wright’s Lab recently discovered a new class of antibiotics. They also used a preferment to identify several other new drug candidates, who are being studied.

“What is really incredible is that we have detected only five percent of the chemical library that we built here at McMaster. ” explains Wright. “We have a huge chemical space largely unexplored at hand. and a profitable means of reducing the rediscovery of known compounds. Who knows what else is? »»

The Wright team is impatient to move coniotins along the development route. The following steps. he says, include producing it largely by fermentation and the formulation of the new class of drugs so that it can possibly be an appropriate intravenous delivery (IV).