Novel screening assay for antimycotics

The screening for novel antimycotics is performed on the basis of a substance library, which consists of thousands of potential active substance compounds produced by EMC microcollections GmbH via microchemical synthesis. We at Fraunhofer IGB then pre-select potential antimycotic compounds by means of chemical structure. In the following antimycotic screening we test these compounds to assess their tolerability and effectiveness using our newly developed assay system (Figure 1). These special testing regimes allow us to investigate, together with further partners from antiinfectives screening, the effects of the test substances on growth of the yeast fungus Candida albicans in the presence of human cells (HeLa cell line). Thus, we can ensure that only compounds which kill fungi but are well-tolerated by the human body go forward for further testing [1].

Initial results from the screening are already available. We have identified several hits, promising individual compounds which merit further investigation. Some of these compounds are currently being modified chemically to improve their effectiveness even further and to analyze their structure-effect relationship. In a second investigation phase, the focus will on identifying the molecular mode of effect of the hit substances and their further development into pharmaceutically interesting active substances for more effective treatment of fungal infections.