Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading infectious disease killer and one of the major causes of deaths worldwide. Although TB is a curable and preventable disease, in 2023, approximately 10.8 million people fell ill with TB and there were an estimated 1.25 million of deaths worldwide. Despite some research progress for new drug candidates, drug repurposing, and new regimens, there is still an urgent need for the new medicins to treat TB, especially due to the growing cases of multidrug and extensively drug-resistant (MDR/XDR) strains. Drug resistance is a challenging obstacle to TB care and prevention globally, making TB harder and longer to treat, often with poorer outcomes for patients. The Actinomycetota encompass Gram-positive bacteria that produce a milieu of bioactive metabolites, including antibiotics, antiproliferative drugs, immunosuppressive agents, and other important medical molecules. Actinomycetota have a special place in the therapeutic arsenal to fight TB, as rifamycins, aminoglycosides, and cycloserine are derived from Streptomyces species, one of the most important genera in this phylum. Furthermore, hundreds of antimycobacterial metabolites have been isolated from Actinomycetota and can serve as effective drugs or useful agents for the discovery of new lead compounds to combat TB. The present review covers more than 171 isolated substances as potential antimycobacterial agents discovered between the years 1972 to 2024. Among the most potent compounds, with MIC in the submicromolar range, steffimycins, ilamycins/rufomycins, nosiheptide, actinomycins, lassomycin and boromycin are the most promising compounds. These compounds represent highly promising candidates for development of new antitubercular drugs. Additionally, some of these substances also demonstrated activity against resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) strains, which is particularly relevant given the difficulty of treating MDR and XDR strains. Thus, actinobacteria have played and continue to play an important role in fight TB, remaining a promising source of antibiotic metabolites. Their unique metabolic diversity enables the production of metabolites with innovative mechanisms of action, making them a strategic reservoir for discovering therapies against untreatable forms of the disease. Graphical Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a major global threat to human health. Among multidrug-resistant pathogens, MRSA is a leading cause of severe nosocomial infections, urgently demanding the discovery of novel antimicrobial agents. Nature, particularly Actinomycetota, remains a prolific source of potent bioactive compounds to combat pathogens. This review analyzes recent advancements in anti-MRSA compounds from Actinomycetota. We highlight the most promising bioactive metabolites, their sources, mechanisms of action, and current limitations. Our analysis identified numerous compounds with potent activity against MRSA, including chromomycins, actinomycins, diperamycin, lunaemycin A, lactoquinomycin A, and weddellamycin, which exhibit submicromolar minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs). The renewed interest in exploring Actinomycetota de novo is directly driven by the AMR crisis. Furthermore, bioprospecting efforts in underexplored ecological niches, such as mangroves and marine sediments, have proven highly promising, as these habitats often harbour unique microbial communities producing novel metabolites. These findings underscore the critical importance of ecology-driven drug discovery in expanding the antimicrobial arsenal and effectively addressing the global health challenge of MRSA and other resistant pathogens.

Os medicamentos foram desenvolvidos a fim de trazer bem-estar ao indivíduo, sendo um item essencial para a recuperação da saúde, atentando-se ao seu uso indiscriminado para que não haja malefícios à recuperação do indivíduo. O presente estudo objetivou avaliar o uso de medicamentos por universitários brasileiros por meio de uma revisão narrativa. Trata-se de uma revisão narrativa acerca do uso de medicamentos por universitários brasileiros realizada nos meses de junho e julho de 2023. Como fonte de coleta de dados, foram utilizados os termos “Perfil Farmacológico” e “Automedicação” nos bancos de dados Google Acadêmico, SciELO e Pubmed. Nesse sentido, buscando responder acerca do perfil dos universitários no Brasil, os universitários brasileiros e o uso de medicamentos e a [não] prescrição de medicamentos utilizados por universitários no Brasil. Foi possível observar que os medicamentos mais utilizados por estudantes se apresentam como antigripais, analgésicos e antiácidos, sendo acima da metade dos casos, por automedicação. Outra classe de fármaco que possui uso abrangente são os psicofármacos, sendo os mais utilizados pelos universitários brasileiros os antidepressivos, seguidos dos estimulantes do sistema nervoso central e ansiolíticos-convulsivantes. Os dados obtidos revelam o alto uso de medicamentos por parte de universitários brasileiros, majoritariamente motivados pelo ambiente de estresse e cobrança. Assim, mostra-se de grande valia alertar para a prática da automedicação, desencadeando a necessidade de se realizar estratégias na promoção do uso racional de medicamentos.

Purpose of Review: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma remains among the deadliest malignancies worldwide, and effective therapies are still lacking. Actinomycetota are among the richest microbial sources of bioactive secondary metabolites, and three agents in clinical use against pancreatic malignancy derive from them — streptozotocin, everolimus and doxorubicin — though all three are indicated for neuroendocrine rather than ductal tumors. This review provides a critical narrative synthesis of Actinomycetota-derived metabolites evaluated in pancreatic cancer models, with every potency value re-derived from the primary literature and interpreted alongside assay conditions and available mechanistic and in vivo evidence. Recent Findings: Fifty-two compounds from 25 primary reports encompass polyketides, nonribosomal peptides, depsipeptides, RiPPs, alkaloids, ionophores and hybrid scaffolds. Rather than a simple ranking of increasingly potent cytotoxins, the literature poses a sharper question about selectivity. Two compounds are conditionally active: kigamicin D only under nutrient deprivation and BE-43547A ₂ only under hypoxia, exploiting the metabolic state that defines the disease rather than any intrinsic difference between malignant and normal cells. Both were recovered by screens built to detect that behavior, and neither has been shown to hold a therapeutic window in vivo. Separately, thiogochangamide B retains activity in gemcitabine-resistant models, while trienomycin A binds STAT3 directly, suppresses proliferation across eight pancreatic lines, achieves 84–98% tumor growth inhibition in xenografts at doses producing no detectable toxicity, and distributes preferentially to pancreatic tissue. Summary: Conditional activity is best read as a hypothesis about how such compounds should be sought rather than as an established route to selectivity. Despite remarkable chemical diversity, translation remains constrained by the limited use of normal-cell controls, predictive biomarkers and clinically relevant preclinical models. Screens conducted in nutrient-replete, normoxic monolayer culture will systematically miss compounds of this kind. Future efforts should prioritize compounds that exploit the metabolic liabilities of pancreatic cancer rather than pursuing greater cytotoxic potency.