Echinocandins versus dated antifungals in combination against opportunistic mycotic infections

Abstract

Scientific and clinical reports globally demonstrated that the opportunistic mycotic infections are at major risk to the human fitness. In the past few decades, the development of resistance in microbes to existing antifungals has emphasized on the search of new antimycotic drugs. As a matter of fact, “echinocandins” are new categories of broad-spectrum antifungal enlighten a hope in this direction. Echinocandins are bulky lipopeptides that inhibit the production of β-[1,3]-glucan “a major constituent of fungal cell wall” which ultimately leads to the death of fungal pathogens. In vitro as well as in vivo published reports have demonstrated that the echinocandins exhibit fungicidal activity against most Candida spp., while fungistatic against Aspergillus spp. and exclusively found to be more effective when tested in combination with polyenes/azoles. The present article is expert views on the recent and historical literature available on the antifungal therapies with accessing their impact on the human health. Emphasis is given to the utility of the echinocandins a potental antifungal agent by discussing recent examples of clinical and laboratory studies including the use of improved proteomics approaches to know a bit more about the interaction of human host and fungal pathogens.