Peptide-based cancer therapy: opportunity and challenge.
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Conventional cancer therapies mainly focus on mass cell killing without high specificity and often cause severe side effects and toxicities. Peptides are a novel class of anticancer agents that could specifically target cancer cells with lower toxicity to normal tissues, which will offer new opportunities for cancer prevention and treatment. Anticancer peptides face several therapeutic challenges. In this review, we present the sources and mechanisms of anticancer peptides and further discuss modification strategies to improve the anticancer effects of bioactive peptides.
College of Medicine, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, Henan, China.
Dongdong
D
Wu
School of Life Science, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, Henan, China.
Yanfeng
Y
Gao
School of Life Science, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, Henan, China. Electronic address: qym@zzu.edu.cn.
Yuanming
Y
Qi
School of Life Science, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, Henan, China.
Lixiang
L
Chen
College of Medicine, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, Henan, China.
Yuanfang
Y
Ma
College of Medicine, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, Henan, China. Electronic address: yanzhang206@163.com.
Yanzhang
Y
Li
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D019151:Peptide Library; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use
D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D019151:Peptide Library; D010936:Plant Extracts; D010940:Plant Proteins
Anticancer mechanism; Cancer therapy; Modification strategy; Peptide