Plantas Con Actividad Contra Mycobacterium

Plants and Fungal Products with Activity Against Tuberculosis
Marcus Vinícius Nora De Souza
FioCruz-Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Instituto de Tecnologia em Fármacos-Far Manguinhos, Rua Sizenando Nabuco, 100, Manguinhos, 21041-25650 - Rio de Janeiro-RJ – Brazil
E-mail: mvndesouza@click21.com.br
Received June 29, 2005; Accepted July 28, 2005; Published August 15, 2005
Tuberculosis (TB) is becomingan ever more serious worldwide problem. This contagious disease kills four people every minute somewhere in the world and accounts for more than 2 million deaths per year. Due to the rapid spread of TB strains resistant to all the major anti-TB drugs on the market, and the association of TB with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in AIDS, we urgently need to develop new drugs to fightagainst TB. In this context, due to the importance of nature in the development of new drugs, the aim of the present review is to highlight a series of new and promising anti-TB agents derived from plants and fungi discovered between 2001 and 2005.
KEYWORDS: natural products, tuberculosis, antimycobacterial activity
INTRODUCTION
Nature is an incredible source of both simple and complex compoundsthat play an important role in the treatment of human diseases. For example, in the field of cancer and infectious disease, about 65% of the drugs on the market are of natural origin[1]. The importance of natural products in drug discovery can be noted in the large number of drugs derived from living organisms (including plants, animals, and insects), available against different classes of disease.As examples, one can mention the antibiotic penicillin G produced by the fungus Penicillium chrysogenum; the narcotic analgesic morphine extracted from the opium poppy Papaver Somniferum; the antimalarial quinine and artemisinin found in Cinchona officinalis and Artemisia annua L., respectively; the anticancer vincristine and paclitaxel extracted from Catharanthus roseus and Taxus brevifoliaNutt, respectively; and the antiasthma ephedrine, isolated from the Ma huang herb (Fig. 1). Due to the importance of drug development from natural products today, much attention is being paid to the discovery of new molecules from nature with unexploited modes of action. In this context, the aim of the present article is to highlight new antituberculosis agents derived from plants and fungi discoveredbetween 2001 and 2005.
De Souza: Plants and Fungal Products with Activity Against Tuberculosis TheScientificWorldJOURNAL (2005) 5, 609-628
NHOH3CONQuinineOHOHONCH3MorphineOOOOOHCH3HHCH3H3CArtemisininNSBnOCHNHOCO2HPenicillin GH3COOBzHHOONHOHOOHOAcOOOAcPaclitaxelNHNCOOMeHONNMeOCHOHOHOAcHCOOMeVincristineNHCH3HOHH3CHEphedrineCH3CH3HH
FIGURE 1
TUBERCULOSIS
Tuberculosis (TB) is defined as adisease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, transmitted through the air that mainly affects and damages the lungs. It may, however, spread to any other organ system[2]. The resurgence of TB became a serious worldwide problem during the period from 1985–1992, particularly in people infected with the HIV virus. There are also other problems that contribute to the increasing incidence ofTB, such as immigration, war, famine, homelessness, the lack of new drugs, and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) that arise from inconsistent or partial treatment. Due to TB problems, the World Health Organization declared this disease a global health emergency in 1993. Today, TB with AIDS and malaria are the top three infectious disease killers in the world with, respectively, 2, 3, and 1million people dying each year. Each year, 1% of the global population is infected and 5–10% of those infected become sick or infectious. The populations infected at present are: Africa (35%), Americas (18%), Eastern Mediterranean (29%), Europe (15%), Southeast Asia
610
De Souza: Plants and Fungal Products with Activity Against Tuberculosis TheScientificWorldJOURNAL (2005) 5, 609-628
(44%),...