This review is devoted to a broad analysis of the results of studies of the effect of macrocyclic antifungal polyene
antibiotic amphotericin B on cell membranes. A detailed study of
polyenes has shown that some of them can have not only antifungal, but also
antiviral and antitumor effects. Under conditions of global pandemic fungal pathology develops especially quickly and in this case leads to invasive
aspergillosis, which contributes to the complication of
coronavirus infection in the lungs and even
secondary infection with invasive
aspergillosis. The treatment of an invasive form of
bronchopulmonary aspergillosis is directly related to the immunomodulatory and immunostimulating properties of the macrocyclic polyene
drug amphotericin B. The article presents experimental data on the study of the
biological activity and membrane properties of
amphotericin B and the effect of its chemically modified derivatives, as well as liposomal forms of
amphotericin B on viral, bacterial and
fungal infections. The mechanism of action of
amphotericin B and its analogues is based on their interaction with cellular and
lipid membranes, followed by formation of
ion channels of molecular size in the membranes. The importance of these studies is that
polyenes are sensitive to membranes that contain
sterols of a certain structure. The analysis showed that pathogenic fungal cells containing
ergosterol were 10-100 times more sensitive to polyene
antibiotics than host cell membranes containing
cholesterol. The high
sterol selectivity of the action of
polyenes opens broad prospects for the use of polyene antifungal drugs in practical medicine and pharmacology in the treatment of
invasive mycoses and the prevention of
atherosclerosis. In this context, it should be noted that polyene
antibiotics are the main tool in the study of the biochemical mechanism of changes in the permeability of cell membranes for energy-dependent substrates. Chemical and genetic engineering transformation of the structure of polyene
antibiotic molecules opens prospects for the identification and creation of new biologically active forms of the
antibiotic that have a high selectivity of action in the treatment of pathogenic
infections.