Antifungal drugs and resistance: Current concepts

Recently, clinical failure and relapses have been observed in patients treated with antifungals. Drug resistance has become an important problem leading to significant negative social, psychological, and occupational health effects and quality of life. Early recognition and treatment is essential to reduce morbidity and possibility of transmission. The increased use, inappropriate prescribing and over the counter sale of antifungal agents has also added in the development of resistance to these drugs. The main biochemical and molecular mechanisms that contribute to antifungal resistance include reduced uptake of the drug, an active transport out of the cell or modified drug metabolic degradation of the cell, changes in the interaction of the drug to the target site or other enzymes involved in the process by point mutations, overexpression of the target molecule, overproduction or mutation of the target enzyme, amplification and gene conversion (recombination), and increased cellular efflux and occurrence of biofilm. Although, there is considerable knowledge concerning the biochemical, genetic and clinical aspects of resistance to antifungal agents, expansion of our understanding of the mechanisms by which antifungal resistance emerges and spreads, quicker methods for the determination of resistance, targetting efflux pumps, especially ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporters and heat shock protein 90, new drug delivery systems, optimizing therapy according to pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic characteristics, new classes of antifungal drugs that are active against azole-resistant isolates, and use of combinations of antifungal drugs or use of adjunctive immunostimulatory therapy and other modalities of treatment will clearly be important for future treatment strategies and in preventing development of resistance.