Antifungal Drug Discovery: Progresses, Challenges, Opportunities, 2nd Edition
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pharmacology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 December 2025 | Viewed by 1155
Special Issue Editor
Interests: medicinal chemistry; natural products; multi-component reactions; metal-based drugs; antibiotics and antimycotics; anticancer drugs; antiparasitic drugs; antiviral drugs
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The arsenal of antifungal drugs for the treatment of human mycoses is confined to a few compound classes such as azoles, echinocandines, and polyenes, while the eminent health risks based on fungal infections are continuously rising. Immunocompromised people (e.g., elderly people, organ transplantation and cancer patients, and persons infected with HIV) especially suffer from life-threatening systemic fungal infections. The formation of drug-resistant pathogenic fungal strains, as well as the emergence of new highly problematic species such as Candida auris, pose a considerable global threat, warranting the development of new and efficient antifungal drug candidates with limited side effects. The severe skin mycoses eumycetoma, chromoblastomycosis, and sporotrichosis are classified as neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), with potent antifungals still needing to be discovered and existing drugs being inefficient and often unavailable for patients in rural tropical and subtropical regions.
Thus, new fungicidals with enhanced activity, reduced side effects, and the ability to circumvent drug resistance mechanisms are sought. Promising strategies include the optimization of existing antifungals and the development of first-generation inhibitors of new fungal drug targets. In this regard, the identification and validation of suitable new targets and mechanisms is of high relevance, and these can also include vital interactions of the fungal pathogen with the host. Straightforward formulation and conjugate systems can improve pharmacokinetics and targeting properties. The repurposing of known drugs against other ailments and the rapid and cost-effective application of few-step chemical procedures and multi-component reactions can quickly lead to useful hit compounds.
This Special Issue covers the latest developments and the state-of-the-art of drug design and discovery for the treatment of fungal infections. Original research articles, review articles, perspectives, and short communications including (but not restricted to) the described research fields are welcome.
Dr. Bernhard Biersack
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- antifungal drugs
- fungal infections
- drug design
- drug discovery
- targeted therapy
- drug resistance
- fungal drug targets
- neglected tropical diseases
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