New drug delivery method from for improved fungal infection treatment

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A team of scientists from Agharkar Research Institute, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology, India have used a chitin synthesis fungicide, Nikkomycin, produced by the bacterial Streptomyces spp. to develop Nikkomycin loaded polymeric nanoparticles. Chitin is the chief component of fungal cell walls and is absent in the human body. The drug loaded nanoparticles were found to disrupt the growth of Aspergillus spp and found effective against fungal infection known as Aspergillosis caused by fungi Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus fumigatus. The nanoformulation developed was found to be free of cytotoxic and hemolytic effects. The research was published in the journal Zeitschrift für Naturforschung C.

Nanoparticles are promising for the controlled and effective release of drugs, with polymeric nanoparticles comprising an advanced method of drug delivery. The new nanoparticle-delivery based method can prove useful to patients suffering from asthma, cystic fibrosis, or previous lung disease, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), cancer, or those exposed to corticosteroid medications for an extended duration.

Azole drugs used currently attack the fungal membrane and neutralize the fungi. However, resistance to the existing antifungal drugs is a matter of concern and hence need better methods of drug delivery for effective treatment. The ARI team sees the new method’s potential application in development of inhalation nano-formulations against pulmonary Aspergillosis, further expanding the scope of such antifungal nano-formulations.