New promising leads from natural sources against Cryptococcus sp. an Candida sp.: an 8 years review

Abstract

Systemic fungal infections caused by fungal species of the genus Candida sp. and Cryptococcus sp. have important epidemiological significance, because they affect immunocompromised patients and present high mortality rates. The available drugs used for the treatment of the diseases caused by these fungi species are restricted of three classes of antifungals. Besides the limited number of therapeutic alternatives, these drugs are associated with several factors that limiting its use, such as the incidence of serious adverse effects, drug interactions, development of resistance and high cost, justifying the search for new chemical entities. Natural products are historically relevant sources of compounds for the development of new drugs, and studies with these organisms has resulted in the discovery of new molecules with anti-cryptococcus and anti-candida activity. In this review, 125 molecules with minimal inhibitory concentration (MICs) in the range of 0.63 to 50 μg mL -1 were compiled. 88% of these molecules were active against the different species of Candida sp. and 35.2% were active against fungi of the genus Cryptococcus sp.. 77.6% were molecules isolated from plants, 8% isolated from microorganisms and 13.6% isolated from algae and marine sponges.