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REVIEW article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Experimental Pharmacology and Drug Discovery
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1447450

A review of the fernane-type triterpenoids as anti-fungal drugs

Provisionally accepted
Chang Li Chang Li 1*Chun-Yue Liu Chun-Yue Liu 2Lu Zhang Lu Zhang 2Sixuan Liu Sixuan Liu 2Yong-Fu Lu Yong-Fu Lu 2Yue-Hu Pei Yue-Hu Pei 2
  • 1 College of Pharmacy, HarBin Medical University, Harbin, China
  • 2 College of Pharmacy, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Human fungal pathogens could cause a broad plethora of infections in both the immunocompetent and immunocompromised host. Fungal infections have become important causes of morbidity and mortality in recent years, the current arsenal of anti-fungal therapies was restricted.Ibrexafungerp was a novel, highly bioavailable glucan synthase inhibitor formulated for both intravenous and oral administration being developed by Scynexis; it was also the first novel antifungal drug class approved in more than 20 years. Ibrexafungerp was one semi-synthetic derivative of enfumafungin, a natural product isolated from fungi. This review reported the discovery of enfumafungin and ibrexafungerp, their anti-fungal mechanism, summed up 63 fernane-type triterpenoids from natural products, including 49 from plants, 9 from fungi and 5 from lichen. In addition, the review summarized the progress of enzymes responsible for the biosynthesis of type II fernane triterpenoid (enfumafungin skeleton) and type I fernane triterpenoid (polytolypin skeleton).The good example kept our confidence up for searching for new leading compounds and discovering drugs from fungi.

    Keywords: Triterpenoid, Enfumafungin, ibrexafungerp, Anti-fungal, Fernane type

    Received: 11 Jun 2024; Accepted: 08 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Li, Liu, Zhang, Liu, Lu and Pei. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Chang Li, College of Pharmacy, HarBin Medical University, Harbin, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.