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Peer-reviewedCC BYiFungi

Novel Strategies Against Fungal Infections: Repurposing Existing Drugs and Advancing Nanotherapeutics

  • Zimeng You1
  • Kaiwen Zhuang1
  • Takashi Sugita1,2
  • Yuping Ran1
  1. 1Department of Dermatovenereology , West China Hospital , Sichuan University , Chengdu , China
  2. 2Department of Microbiology , Meiji Pharmaceutical University , Tokyo , Japan
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Abstract

Fungal infections are rising globally, affecting nearly a quarter of the world's population. Driven by growing immunocompromised populations, the overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics, and the emergence of multidrug-resistant fungi, conventional antifungal agents now face significant challenges in terms of efficacy, toxicity, and resistance. This review highlights emerging antifungal strategies, focusing on drug repurposing and nanomaterial-based approaches, in response to the growing challenge of fungal infections. Drug repurposing has revealed that numerous non-antifungal agents exhibited intrinsic antifungal activity or exerted strong synergistic effects combined with conventional antifungal drugs, thereby expanding the the therapeutic pipeline without requiring de novo drug discovery. Meanwhile, advanced polymeric and metallic nanomaterials offer key benefits, such as enhanced drug solubility, targeted delivery, improved biofilm penetration, multimodal fungicidal mechanisms, reduced host toxicity, and a lower propensity to induce resistance. Although most current studiesremain preclinical, the convergent advances in drug repurposing and nano-enabled antifungal technologies establish a promising route toward safer, more effective, and resistance-refractory therapies, underscoring the need for continued interdisciplinary innovation to accelerate clinical translation.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{you2026novel,
  title = {{Novel Strategies Against Fungal Infections: Repurposing Existing Drugs and Advancing Nanotherapeutics}},
  author = {Zimeng You and Kaiwen Zhuang and Takashi Sugita and Yuping Ran},
  journal = {iFungi},
  year = {2026},
  month = jul,
  doi = {10.26599/ifungi.2026.9670015},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.26599/ifungi.2026.9670015},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Novel Strategies Against Fungal Infections: Repurposing Existing Drugs and Advancing Nanotherapeutics
AU  - Zimeng You
AU  - Kaiwen Zhuang
AU  - Takashi Sugita
AU  - Yuping Ran
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/01
JO  - iFungi
DO  - 10.26599/ifungi.2026.9670015
UR  - https://doi.org/10.26599/ifungi.2026.9670015
AB  - Fungal infections are rising globally, affecting nearly a quarter of the world's population. Driven by growing immunocompromised populations, the overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics, and the emergence of multidrug-resistant fungi, conventional antifungal agents now face significant challenges in terms of efficacy, toxicity, and resistance. This review highlights emerging antifungal strategies, focusing on drug repurposing and nanomaterial-based approaches, in response to the growing challenge of fungal infections. Drug repurposing has revealed that numerous non-antifungal agents exhibited intrinsic antifungal activity or exerted strong synergistic effects combined with conventional antifungal drugs, thereby expanding the the therapeutic pipeline without requiring de novo drug discovery. Meanwhile, advanced polymeric and metallic nanomaterials offer key benefits, such as enhanced drug solubility, targeted delivery, improved biofilm penetration, multimodal fungicidal mechanisms, reduced host toxicity, and a lower propensity to induce resistance. Although most current studiesremain preclinical, the convergent advances in drug repurposing and nano-enabled antifungal technologies establish a promising route toward safer, more effective, and resistance-refractory therapies, underscoring the need for continued interdisciplinary innovation to accelerate clinical translation.
SN  - 3079-7284
ER  -