अमूर्त

Repurposing of existing Pitavastatin drug for treatment of Candida albican infections

Ritika Rana

The incidences of opportunistic fungal infections have increased from the last two decades or threaten to increase in the near future.These infections are responsible for ~1.3 million deaths per year worldwide with members of the genera Candida, Cryptococcus and Aspergillus most often associated with life-threatening disseminated disease. Five major classes of antifungal compounds are currently in clinical use: polyenes, azole derivatives, allylamines, thiocarbamates, and fluoropyrimidines. Despite these leading antifungal agents, treatment still remains unsatisfactory due to resistance problem which have led to an increased interest in the testing of new antifungal drugs.Unfortunately, the development of an entirely new drug is a long (approx. 20 years) and expensive process (approx. 100 billion dollars). Drug repurposing is an alternative strategy in drug development, in which already clinically approved drugs are explored for their alternate use. Today, more and more Pharmaceutical companies are scanning the existing pharmacopoeia for repositioning candidates, and the number of repositioning success stories is increasing.Methodology - Computational study:-To check the interaction of Pitavastatin towards CYP450 lanosterol alpha demethylase.In vitro studies- i) Control-cells without drug.ii) Standard-fluconazole with Candida albican.iii) Test-Pitavastatin (10, 20 & 40 ug/ml with Candida albican. In vivo studies- Parameters:-Candida albicansgrowth.Visualization of ulceration, erythema and crusting.Statistical test:-ANOVA METHOD (p<0.05,95%C.I).