Leishmanicidal activity of fungal bioproducts: A systematic review

The genome mining of biosynthetic genes from fungi demonstrates the enormous pharmacological potential that is still little explored. These results have encouraged the scientific community to invest in fungi as a source of innovative alternatives for the treatment of neglected diseases, such as leishmaniasis. Therefore, this work aimed to identify, through a systematic search in the databases of PubMed, Lilacs and Scielo, the existing evidence in the literature regarding the efficacy of the leishmanicidal activity of fungal bioproducts that represent new starting points for the advancement of pharmacotherapy of leishmaniasis. During the search process, 59 articles met all the eligibility criteria and, therefore, were included in this review. The studies demonstrate that different prospecting, cultivation, biotechnological and synthetic modification strategies contribute to the discovery and development of new therapeutic fungal compounds. 39 (66.1%) of the studies presented at least one isolated compound with leishmanicidal activity, while 20 (33.9%) evaluated only crude extracts or semipurified fractions. Terpenes, steroids and quinones were the most prevalent chemical classes among the isolated compounds. There are many studies about active compounds that have been isolated from Penicillium and Aspergillus genera. A large majority (89.8%) of the selected studies been conducted in vitro. Only six studies performed in vivo assay. The species of Leishmania amazonensis and Leishmania donovani were the most evaluated. The results support the hypothesis of the pharmacological potential of fungal bioproducts in the treatment of leishmaniasis.