Development of Antifungal Peptides against Cryptococcus neoformans; Leveraging Knowledge about the <i>cdc50Δ</i> Mutant Susceptibility for Lead Compound Development
Robert J. Tancer, Yina Wang, Siddhi Pawar, Chaoyang Xue, Gregory Wiedman
Abstract
The authors have developed a lead compound peptide antifungal drug targeting a protein from the organism Cryptococcus neoformans. Binding of the drug to the target fungal protein causes charged lipid molecules to be retained on the surface. This peptide works in synergy with the existing antifungal drug caspofungin. Echinocandin drugs like caspofungin are one of the few classes of existing antifungals. Due to the high concentrations needed, caspofungin is rarely used to treat C. neoformans infections. The authors believe that their new compound provides a way to lower the concentration of caspofungin needed to treat such infections, thus opening the possibility for greater utility of these antifungal.