Antitumor and Immunomodulatory Compounds from Fungi

With its pervasive presence in every environment on earth, the kingdom of fungi represents one of the most prolific natural sources of bioactive products to be considered for pharmaceutical exploitation. Particularly, many “small” secondary metabolites of these microorganisms, basically serving as chemical messengers in the regulation of relationships with their biocenotic associates, result to possess a bioactivity profile which may qualify them as prospect antitumor and/or immunomodulatory drugs. Occurrence, structural diversity and mechanisms of action of these compounds are reviewed in this article in view of possible applications in human medicine.