Fungal infections are a big problem that’s only getting worse. But guess what? Scientists have come up with a cool new way to fight these infections without hurting us. They’ve taken a powerful antifungal drug called Amphotericin B and made it even better! This new and improved molecule can kill fungi without being toxic to humans. How awesome is that?
The original Amphotericin B is a strong drug that’s used as a last resort to treat fungal infections. It’s really good at killing fungi, but it’s also toxic to the patient, especially the kidneys. So, the researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Wisconsin-Madison decided to do something about it.
Dr. Martin D. Burke, the leader of the research team, said, “Fungal infections are a public health crisis that is only getting worse. And they have the potential, unfortunately, of breaking out and having an exponential impact, kind of like COVID-19 did. So let’s take one of the powerful tools that nature developed to combat fungi and turn it into a powerful ally.”
The scientists spent years studying Amphotericin B and finally came up with a way to make it kill fungi without harming humans. They worked with a group specializing in molecular imaging tools and found out how the drug works: it kills fungi by acting like a sponge to extract ergosterol from fungal cells.
But here’s the cool part – they also found out that it kills human kidney cells by extracting cholesterol. Armed with this information, the researchers began making changes to the drug to reduce its interaction with cholesterol and make it less toxic.
After a lot of hard work, they created a new molecule called AM-2-19. And guess what? It’s kidney-sparing, resistance evasive, and super effective against over 500 different types of fungi! They tested it in human blood and kidney cells, as well as in mouse models, and it worked like a charm.
Dr. Burke said, “During my medical rotations, we called AmB ‘ampho-terrible,’ because of how hard it was on patients. Decoupling the efficacy from the toxicity turns ‘ampho-terrible’ into ‘ampho-terrific.’ We are very excited about the potential we are seeing, although clinical study is needed to see if this potential translates to people.”
And here’s the best part – this new molecule has already entered Phase 1 clinical trials! How cool is that? It’s like a superhero in the making, ready to fight off those pesky fungal infections and save the day. Go, AM-2-19, go!
Reference: Maji A, Soutar CP, Zhang J, et al. Tuning sterol extraction kinetics yields a renal-sparing polyene antifungal. Nature. 2023. doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06710-4
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