Echinocandin Antifungal Drugs

The fungal cell wall is composed largely of chitins, mannoproteins, and glucans. The cell wall fulfills a number of critical functions for the fungal cell, including defining its shape, providing docking sites for fungal enzymes, filtering the passage of multiple ions and compounds into the cell, and functioning as the site for adherence of fungi to the vascular endothelium and other structures (1). The fungal cell wall is a highly desirable target for drug design because there is no equivalent in mammalian cells; thus, there may be less drug toxicity.