Abstract
Infectious diseases are among the greatest threats to global health in the 21st century,
and one critical concern is due to antibiotic resistance developed by an increasing
number of bacterial strains. New resistance mechanisms are emerging with many infections
becoming more and more difficult if not impossible to treat. This growing phenomenon
not only is associated with increased mortality but also with longer hospital stays
and higher medical costs. For these reasons, there is an urgent need to find new antibiotics
targeting pathogenic microorganisms such as ESKAPEE bacteria. Most of currently approved
antibiotics are derived from microorganisms, but higher fungi could constitute an
alternative and remarkable reservoir of anti-infectious compounds. For instance, pleuromutilins
constitute the first class of antibiotics derived from mushrooms. However, macromycetes
still represent a largely unexplored source. Publications reporting the antibacterial
potential of
mushroom extracts are emerging, but few purified compounds have been evaluated
for their bioactivity on pathogenic bacterial strains. Therefore, the aim of this
review is to compile up-to-date data about natural products isolated from fruiting
body fungi, which significantly inhibit the growth of ESKAPEE pathogenic bacteria.
When available, data regarding modes of action and cytotoxicity, mandatory when considering
a possible drug development, have been discussed in order to highlight the most promising
compounds.
Key words
mushrooms - macromycetes - natural products - antibacterial - antibiotics - ESKAPEE
