A chemical screen identifies structurally diverse metal chelators with activity against the fungal pathogen Candida albicans

Abstract

The worldwide incidence of invasive fungal infections is increasing at an alarming rate. Systemic candidiasis caused by the opportunistic pathogen Candida albicans is the most common cause of life-threatening fungal infection. However, due to the limited number of antifungal drug classes available and the rise of antifungal resistance, an urgent need exists for the identification of novel treatments. By screening a compound collection from the Boston University Center for Molecular Discovery (BU-CMD), we identified three compounds representing two distinct chemical scaffolds that displayed activity against C. albicans . Follow-up analyses confirmed these molecules were also active against other pathogenic fungal species including Candida auris and Aspergillus fumigatus . Finally, we determined that these compounds inhibit the growth of C. albicans in culture through iron chelation. Overall, this observation describes two novel chemical scaffolds with antifungal activity against diverse fungal pathogens.