Potencial farmacológico de substâncias derivadas de fungos pertencentes ao gênero Aureobasidium : uma revisão integrativa

Abstract

The genus Aureobasidium belong to the phylum Ascomycota, and are known as “black yeasts” because of their ability to produce melanin. The species of the genus are present in various environments and have diverse lifestyles. The genus Aureobasidium is known to have great biotechnological potential due to its ability to produce several extracellular enzymes, siderophores, single cell protein and extracellular polysaccharides such as pullulan. The research for natural products with therapeutic applications were introduced to their “golden age” after the discovery of penicillin in 1928, and since then several drugs have been developed from natural products of plants and microorganisms. Many studies evidenced the pharmacological effects of interest by species of the genus Aureobasidium. Pubmed, Science Direct, Lilacs and Scielo databases were consulted to search for articles using combinations of the keywords and their synonyms “Aureobasidium and pharmacological effect”, “Aureobasidium and pharmacological activity” and “Aureobasidium and pharmacological studies”. Articles published between the period 2000-2021 were considered, which used extracts, fractions or isolated compounds from species belonging to the genus Aureobasidium. From the searches in the four databases, it was possible to find a total of 553 articles, but due to the exclusion criteria, only 23 were included in the review. Articles were found from 2007 to 2021, with a higher prevalence of articles originating from East Asia. Among the harmacological effects found, it is possible to highlight the immunomodulatory effects with 9 articles, anticancer with 4 articles, and in addition the anti-inflammatory, antiallergic, antiosteoporotic and antioxidant effects, containing 2 articles each. The prevalence of β-glucan polysaccharide as the main bioactive molecule in the studies was noted, which corroborates the literature, that reports the pharmacological effect of glucans of various origins, mainly through the immunomodulatory effect. Thus, the results of searches in the literature on pharmacological studies demonstrate the importance of the genus Aureobasidium for the potential use in drug therapies, in particular, for the identification of substances that need to be better characterized in view of their applications, mechanisms of action and safety of use. Therefore, it is suggested that further studies be carried out, advancing the state of the art on the genus and expanding the studies to other species.