Chinese researchers reported in Nature that an experimental antibiotic can kill the dangerous drug-resistant fungi spreading worldwide.
Antibiotics are usually ineffective against fungal infections. Unlike conventional antibiotics, the new drug, mandimycin, targets the lipid membrane that encases the fungus, disrupting its physiological processes and circumventing resistance mechanisms.
Mandimycin belongs to a class of drugs known as glycosylated polyene macrolides, including the last-resort antifungal amphotericin B.
In test tubes, mandimycin killed multiple types of drug-resistant fungi including species of Candida, Cryptococcus neoformans, and Aspergillus fumigatus, researchers from China Pharmaceutical University (CPU) reported.
All of the tested fungi were resistant to at least two existing drugs, and all are on the World Health Organization’s fungal priority pathogens list, which includes infectious fungi with significant unmet needs and public health importance, the researchers noted.
In mice, mandimycin was effective against a strain of Candida auris that is resistant to all major types of antifungals, the researchers said.
A commentary published with the report called mandimycin “a probable treasure trove of actionable intelligence in the battle against drug-resistant fungal infections.”
The new antifungal molecule is so radically different from existing drugs that it “breaks the mold,” the commentary authors said.