In silico approach revealed the membrane receptor PHO36 as a new target for synthetic anticandidal peptides.

Aim: Synthetic antimicrobial peptides (SAMPs) present the potential to fight systemic fungal infections. Here, the PHO36 receptor from Candida albicans was analyzed by in silico tools as a possible target for three anticandidal SAMPs: RcAlb-PepIII, PepGAT and PepKAA.Materials & methods: Molecular docking, dynamics and quantum biochemistry were employed to understand the individual contribution of amino acid residues in the interaction region.Results: The results revealed that SAMPs strongly interact with the PHO36 by multiple high-energy interactions. This is the first study to employ quantum biochemistry to describe the interactions between SAMPs and the PHO36 receptor.Conclusion: This work contributes to understanding and identifying new molecular targets with medical importance that could be used to discover new drugs against systemic fungal infections.

Here, computers helped us find new proteins in Candida albicans that may guide the development of new medicines.

Rise and fall of Caspofungin: the current status of Caspofungin as a treatment for Cryptococcus neoformans infection.

Antifungal infections are becoming a major concern to human health due to antimicrobial resistance. Echinocandins have been promising agents against resistant fungal infections, primarily caspofungin, which has a more effective mechanism of action than azoles and polyenes. However, fungi such as Cryptococcus neoformans appear to be inheritably resistant to these drugs, which is concerning due to the high clinical importance of C. neoformans. In this review, we review the history of C. neoformans and the treatments used to treat antifungals over the years, focusing on caspofungin, while highlighting the C. neoformans problem and possible explanations for its inherent resistance.

Caspofungin is a drug used to treat several types of fungal infections. Resistance to caspofungin is a huge problem, especially in those that are immunocompromised. It is important to understand the history of caspofungin discovery, its clinical applications and its mechanism of action, as well as if a new drug target could be used overcome resistance. This review may perform guide new studies combining caspofungin with other drugs and indicate new potential targets for caspofungin.