SYDNEY, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- A chemical compound found in common herbicides could help fight human fungal pathogenic infections, which claim about 2 million lives a year, according to latest Australian-led research.
The chemical chlorimuron ethyl also targets a range of fungal infections that are potentially fatal to humans, particularly people undergoing treatments which place the immune system under stress, the University of Queensland, which led the international study, said in a statement on Thursday.
"There are more drug-resistant fungal diseases than ever -- posing a major threat to global human health -- and new drugs are urgently required to combat these diseases," said the university's Dr Luke Guddat.
"Through this research we wanted to see if a specific class of commercial herbicide has the ability to stop the growth of these infections.
"We thought this was a good idea, since plants and fungi have a similar enzyme that these chemicals inhibit, and it turns out we were correct."
The researchers tested five different families of compounds to see if they could inhibit a key enzyme from the fungal species, Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans. Chlorimurion ethyl turned out to be "a standout candidate", they said.
"Humans don't have this enzyme -- we obtain these amino acids from our food -- so there's very little chance that these compounds will be toxic to humans, a factor which limits the use of many of the other currently prescribed antifungal drugs."
The development of compounds to treat the infections is promising but more research is necessary, added Guddat.
"We're only at the early stage of this journey, but we're excited to see the prospects for new treatments in the future," said Guddat.
