Caspofungin: Chemical characters, antifungal activities, and mechanism of actions

Caspofungin is the first member of the class of echinocandins approved for use in the treatment of invasive fungal infections caused by various species of Candida and Aspergillus. Its pharmaceutical characteristics qualify it as the best choice of antifungal for the treatment of recalcitrant fungal cases or in case of intolerance of other antifungals. Clinical experiments proved that caspofungin is efficient for the treatment of esophageal candidiasis and candidemia caused by Candida spp. and invasive aspergillosis caused by Aspergillus spp. Caspofungin has a fungicidal effect on Candida spp., but it has a fungistatic effect on Aspergillus spp. The mechanism of caspofungin action in fungal cells is by inhibition of glucan, which is the most abundant polysaccharide component of the cell wall through targeting the enzyme 1,3-β-D-glucan synthase. Resistance to caspofungin is not well identified. It may result from a mutation in the fks gene that encodes one protein of the 1,3-β-D-glucan synthase complex. Information from various available sources about caspofungin was collected. The antifungal action of caspofungin was explained based on new studies. Also, details about the main chemical and pharmaceutical characteristics of caspofungin were included. The successful antifungal action of caspofungin on the most important pathogenic fungi with many pharmacological characteristics encourages the use of it as the best therapeutic choice in case of failure of other antifungal agents to treat invasive fungal infection.