Current Antifungal Antibiotics

Recently, opportunistic fungal infections are becoming more important in the compromised patients. The review summarizes current attempts to find new and useful antifungal antibiotics mainly active against opportunistic fungal pathogens. Based on the chemical structures, antifungal antibiotics reported since 1987 are conveniently classified into 12 types : 1) polyene macrolide and related antibiotics, 2) lipopeptide antibiotics, 3) glycolipid antibiotics, 4) glycolipid/lipopeptide related antibiotics, 5) alkylphenol antibiotics, 6) terpenoid antibiotics, 7) cyclodepsipeptide antibiotics, 8) peptidonucleoside antibiotics, 9) amino acid antibiotics, 10) condensed polycyclic aromatic antibiotics, 11) halogenopyrrole antibiotics and 12) miscellaneous antibiotics. Finally, the principles and strategy for screening of antifungal antibiotics are discussed.