Amphotericin B and Other Polyenes-Discovery, Clinical Use, Mode of Action and Drug Resistance

Although polyenes were the first broad spectrum antifungal drugs on the market, after 70 years they are still the gold standard to treat a variety of fungal infections. Polyenes such as amphotericin B have a controversial image. They are the antifungal drug class with the broadest spectrum, resistan...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of fungi (Basel) Vol. 6; no. 4; p. 321
Main Authors Carolus, Hans, Pierson, Siebe, Lagrou, Katrien, Van Dijck, Patrick
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland MDPI AG 27.11.2020
MDPI
Subjects
Amphotericin B
Antibiotics
Antifungal agents
antifungal drug resistance
discovery
Drug dosages
Drug resistance
Fermentation
Infections
Lipids
mode of action
polyene
Polyenes
Review
Sterols
Toxicity
antifungal drug resistance
amphotericin B
mode of action
discovery
polyene
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Summary:Although polyenes were the first broad spectrum antifungal drugs on the market, after 70 years they are still the gold standard to treat a variety of fungal infections. Polyenes such as amphotericin B have a controversial image. They are the antifungal drug class with the broadest spectrum, resistance development is still relatively rare and fungicidal properties are extensive. Yet, they come with a significant host toxicity that limits their use. Relatively recently, the mode of action of polyenes has been revised, new mechanisms of drug resistance were discovered and emergent polyene resistant species such as entered the picture. This review provides a short description of the history and clinical use of polyenes, and focusses on the ongoing debate concerning their mode of action, the diversity of resistance mechanisms discovered to date and the most recent trends in polyene resistance development.
Bibliography:These authors contributed equally to this work.
ISSN:2309-608X
2309-608X
DOI:10.3390/jof6040321