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Alamdari-Palangi V, Jaberi KR, Shahverdi M, Naeimzadeh Y, Tajbakhsh A, Khajeh S, Razban V, Fallahi J. Recent advances and applications of peptide-agent conjugates for targeting tumor cells. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 2023; 149:15249-15273. [PMID: 37581648 DOI: 10.1007/s00432-023-05144-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 07/08/2023] [Indexed: 08/16/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cancer, being a complex disease, presents a major challenge for the scientific and medical communities. Peptide therapeutics have played a significant role in different medical practices, including cancer treatment. METHOD This review provides an overview of the current situation and potential development prospects of anticancer peptides (ACPs), with a particular focus on peptide vaccines and peptide-drug conjugates for cancer treatment. RESULTS ACPs can be used directly as cytotoxic agents (molecularly targeted peptides) or can act as carriers (guiding missile) of chemotherapeutic agents and radionuclides by specifically targeting cancer cells. More than 60 natural and synthetic cationic peptides are approved in the USA and other major markets for the treatment of cancer and other diseases. Compared to traditional cancer treatments, peptides exhibit anticancer activity with high specificity and the ability to rapidly kill target cancer cells. ACP's target and kill cancer cells via different mechanisms, including membrane disruption, pore formation, induction of apoptosis, necrosis, autophagy, and regulation of the immune system. Modified peptides have been developed as carriers for drugs, vaccines, and peptide-drug conjugates, which have been evaluated in various phases of clinical trials for the treatment of different types of solid and leukemia cancer. CONCLUSIONS This review highlights the potential of ACPs as a promising therapeutic option for cancer treatment, particularly through the use of peptide vaccines and peptide-drug conjugates. Despite the limitations of peptides, such as poor metabolic stability and low bioavailability, modified peptides show promise in addressing these challenges. Various mechanism of action of anticancer peptides. Modes of action against cancer cells including: inducing apoptosis by cytochrome c release, direct cell membrane lysis (necrosis), inhibiting angiogenesis, inducing autophagy-mediated cell death and immune cell regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vahab Alamdari-Palangi
- Department of Molecular Medicine, School of Advanced Medical Sciences and Technologies, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, 7133654361, Iran
| | - Khojaste Rahimi Jaberi
- Department of Neuroscience, School of Advanced Medical Sciences and Technologies, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Mahshid Shahverdi
- Medical Biotechnology Research Center, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran
| | - Yasaman Naeimzadeh
- Department of Molecular Medicine, School of Advanced Medical Sciences and Technologies, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, 7133654361, Iran
| | - Amir Tajbakhsh
- Department of Molecular Medicine, School of Advanced Medical Sciences and Technologies, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, 7133654361, Iran
- Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Sahar Khajeh
- Bone and Joint Diseases Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Vahid Razban
- Department of Molecular Medicine, School of Advanced Medical Sciences and Technologies, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, 7133654361, Iran.
| | - Jafar Fallahi
- Department of Molecular Medicine, School of Advanced Medical Sciences and Technologies, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, 7133654361, Iran.
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Rybczyńska-Tkaczyk K, Grenda A, Jakubczyk A, Krawczyk P. Natural Bacterial and Fungal Peptides as a Promising Treatment to Defeat Lung Cancer Cells. Molecules 2023; 28:molecules28114381. [PMID: 37298856 DOI: 10.3390/molecules28114381] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2023] [Revised: 05/22/2023] [Accepted: 05/25/2023] [Indexed: 06/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite the increasing availability of modern treatments, including personalized therapies, there is a strong need to search for new drugs that will be effective in the fight against cancer. The chemotherapeutics currently available to oncologists do not always yield satisfactory outcomes when used in systemic treatments, and patients experience burdensome side effects during their application. In the era of personalized therapies, doctors caring for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients have been given a powerful weapon, namely molecularly targeted therapies and immunotherapies. They can be used when genetic variants of the disease qualifying for therapy are diagnosed. These therapies have contributed to the extension of the overall survival time in patients. Nevertheless, effective treatment may be hindered in the case of clonal selection of tumor cells with acquired resistance mutations. The state-of-the-art therapy currently used in NSCLC patients is immunotherapy targeting the immune checkpoints. Although it is effective, some patients have been observed to develop resistance to immunotherapy, but its cause is still unknown. Personalized therapies extend the lifespan and time to cancer progression in patients, but only those with a confirmed marker qualifying for the treatment (gene mutations/rearrangements or PD-L1 expression on tumor cells) can benefit from these therapies. They also cause less burdensome side effects than chemotherapy. The article is focused on compounds that can be used in oncology and produce as few side effects as possible. The search for compounds of natural origin, e.g., plants, bacteria, or fungi, exhibiting anticancer properties seems to be a good solution. This article is a literature review of research on compounds of natural origin that can potentially be used as part of NSCLC therapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kamila Rybczyńska-Tkaczyk
- Department of Environmental Microbiology, The University of Life Sciences, Leszczyńskiego Street 7, 20-069 Lublin, Poland
| | - Anna Grenda
- Department of Pneumonology, Oncology and Allergology, Medical University of Lublin, Jaczewskiego Street 8, 20-954 Lublin, Poland
| | - Anna Jakubczyk
- Department of Biochemistry and Food Chemistry, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Skromna Street 8, 20-704 Lublin, Poland
| | - Paweł Krawczyk
- Department of Pneumonology, Oncology and Allergology, Medical University of Lublin, Jaczewskiego Street 8, 20-954 Lublin, Poland
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Wu J, Deng R, Yan J, Zhu B, Wang J, Xu Y, Gui S, Jin X, Lu X. A cell transmembrane peptide chimeric M(27-39)-HTPP targeted therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma. iScience 2023; 26:106766. [PMID: 37234089 PMCID: PMC10205784 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106766] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2022] [Revised: 03/09/2023] [Accepted: 04/24/2023] [Indexed: 05/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a prevalent malignant tumor, with a growing incidence and death rate worldwide. The aims and challenges of treating HCC include targeting the tumor, entering the tumor tissue, inhibiting the spread and growth of tumor cells. M27-39 is a small peptide isolated from the antimicrobial peptide Musca domestica cecropin (MDC), whereas HTPP is a liver-targeting, cell-penetrating peptide obtained from the circumsporozoite protein (CSP) of Plasmodium parasites. In this study, M27-39 was modified by HTPP to form M(27-39)-HTPP, which targeted tumor penetration to treat HCC. Here, we revealed that M(27-39)-HTPP had a good ability to target and penetrate the tumor, effectively limit the proliferation, migration, and invasion, and induce the apoptosis in HCC. Notably, M(27-39)-HTPP demonstrated good biosecurity when administered at therapeutic doses. Accordingly, M(27-39)-HTPP could be used as a new, safe, and efficient therapeutic peptide for HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jibin Wu
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Bioactive Substances, School of Life Science and Biopharmaceutics, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, 280 Wai Huan Dong Road, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, People’s Republic of China
| | - Rui Deng
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Bioactive Substances, School of Life Science and Biopharmaceutics, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, 280 Wai Huan Dong Road, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, People’s Republic of China
| | - Jianling Yan
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Bioactive Substances, School of Life Science and Biopharmaceutics, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, 280 Wai Huan Dong Road, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, People’s Republic of China
| | - Baokang Zhu
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Bioactive Substances, School of Life Science and Biopharmaceutics, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, 280 Wai Huan Dong Road, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, People’s Republic of China
| | - Jian Wang
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Bioactive Substances, School of Life Science and Biopharmaceutics, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, 280 Wai Huan Dong Road, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, People’s Republic of China
| | - Yinghua Xu
- Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Health for Research on Quality and Standardization of Biotech Products, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing 102629, People’s Republic of China
| | - Shuiqing Gui
- Intensive Care Unit, Shenzhen Second People’s Hospital, the First Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518031, People’s Republic of China
| | - Xiaobao Jin
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Bioactive Substances, School of Life Science and Biopharmaceutics, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, 280 Wai Huan Dong Road, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, People’s Republic of China
| | - Xuemei Lu
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Bioactive Substances, School of Life Science and Biopharmaceutics, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, 280 Wai Huan Dong Road, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, People’s Republic of China
- Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shenzhen 518055, People’s Republic of China
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Lath A, Santal AR, Kaur N, Kumari P, Singh NP. Anti-cancer peptides: their current trends in the development of peptide-based therapy and anti-tumor drugs. Biotechnol Genet Eng Rev 2022; 39:45-84. [PMID: 35699384 DOI: 10.1080/02648725.2022.2082157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Human cancer remains a cause of high mortality throughout the world. The conventional methods and therapies currently employed for treatment are followed by moderate-to-severe side effects. They have not generated curative results due to the ineffectiveness of treatments. Besides, the associated high costs, technical requirements, and cytotoxicity further characterize their limitations. Due to relatively higher presidencies, bioactive peptides with anti-cancer attributes have recently become treatment choices within the therapeutic arsenal. The peptides act as potential anti-cancer agents explicitly targeting tumor cells while being less toxic to normal cells. The anti-cancer peptides are isolated from various natural sources, exhibit high selectivity and high penetration efficiency, and could be quickly restructured. The therapeutic benefits of compatible anti-cancer peptides have contributed to the significant expansion of cancer treatment; albeit, the mechanisms by which bioactive peptides inhibit the proliferation of tumor cells remain unclear. This review will provide a framework for assessing anti-cancer peptides' structural and functional aspects. It shall provide appropriate information on their mode of action to support and strengthen efforts to improve cancer prevention. The article will mention the therapeutic health benefits of anti-cancer peptides. Their importance in clinical studies is elaborated for reducing cancer incidences and developing sustainable treatment models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amit Lath
- Centre for Biotechnology, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, India
| | - Anita Rani Santal
- Department of Microbiology, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, India
| | - Nameet Kaur
- Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University, Noida, India
| | - Poonam Kumari
- Sophisticated Analytical Instrumentation Facility, CIL and UCIM, Punjab University, Chandigarh, Inida
| | - Nater Pal Singh
- Centre for Biotechnology, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, India
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He W, Wang Y, Cui L, Su R, Wei L. Learning embedding features based on multi-sense-scaled attention architecture to improve the predictive performance of anticancer peptides. Bioinformatics 2021; 37:4684-4693. [PMID: 34323948 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btab560] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2021] [Revised: 07/03/2021] [Accepted: 07/28/2021] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
MOTIVATION Anticancer peptides (ACPs) have recently emerged as effective anticancer drugs in cancer therapy. Machine-learning-based predictors have been developed to identify ACPs and achieve satisfactory performance. However, existing methods suffer from experience-based feature engineering, which not only restricts the representation ability of the models to a certain extent but also lacks adaptivity for different data, limiting the further improvement of the predictive performance and impacting the robustness of the predictive models. To alleviate the above problems, we propose a novel deep-learning-based predictor named ACPred-LAF, in which we propose a novel multi-sense and multi-scaled embedding algorithm to automatically learn and extract context sequential characteristics of ACPs. RESULTS Through the feature comparative analysis, we demonstrate that our learnable and self-adaptive embedding features are better than hand-crafted features in capturing discriminative information, which can effectively benefit the performance improvement for ACP prediction. In addition, benchmarking comparison results demonstrate that our ACPred-LAF outperforms the state-of-the-art methods both on existing benchmark datasets and our newly constructed dataset. Furthermore, we also prove and validate the robustness of the model via the data interference experiment. To avoid potential evaluation bias, here we construct a new ACP benchmark dataset named ACP-Mixed by integrating existing datasets. We expect our newly constructed dataset to be a golden standard benchmark dataset in this field. To facilitate the use of our model, we develop a web server as the implementation of ACPred-LAF. AVAILABILITY Our proposed ACPred-LAF, newly constructed benchmark dataset ACP-Mixed are open source collaborative initiatives available in the GitHub repository (https://github.com/TearsWaiting/ACPred-LAF). Besides, a webserver as the implementation of ACPred-LAF that can be accessed via: http://server.malab.cn/ACPred-LAF. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenjia He
- School of Software, Shandong University, Jinan, China.,Joint SDU-NTU Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research (C-FAIR), Shandong University, Jinan, China
| | - Yu Wang
- School of Software, Shandong University, Jinan, China.,Joint SDU-NTU Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research (C-FAIR), Shandong University, Jinan, China
| | - Lizhen Cui
- School of Software, Shandong University, Jinan, China.,Joint SDU-NTU Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research (C-FAIR), Shandong University, Jinan, China
| | - Ran Su
- College of Intelligence and Computing, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
| | - Leyi Wei
- School of Software, Shandong University, Jinan, China.,Joint SDU-NTU Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research (C-FAIR), Shandong University, Jinan, China
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Chiangjong W, Chutipongtanate S, Hongeng S. Anticancer peptide: Physicochemical property, functional aspect and trend in clinical application (Review). Int J Oncol 2020; 57:678-696. [PMID: 32705178 PMCID: PMC7384845 DOI: 10.3892/ijo.2020.5099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 162] [Impact Index Per Article: 40.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2020] [Accepted: 06/26/2020] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Cancer is currently ineffectively treated using therapeutic drugs, and is also able to resist drug action, resulting in increased side effects following drug treatment. A novel therapeutic strategy against cancer cells is the use of anticancer peptides (ACPs). The physicochemical properties, amino acid composition and the addition of chemical groups on the ACP sequence influences their conformation, net charge and orientation of the secondary structure, leading to an effect on targeting specificity and ACP-cell interaction, as well as peptide penetrating capability, stability and efficacy. ACPs have been developed from both naturally occurring and modified peptides by substituting neutral or anionic amino acid residues with cationic amino acid residues, or by adding a chemical group. The modified peptides lead to an increase in the effectiveness of cancer therapy. Due to this effectiveness, ACPs have recently been improved to form drugs and vaccines, which have sequentially been evaluated in various phases of clinical trials. The development of the ACPs remains focused on generating newly modified ACPs for clinical application in order to decrease the incidence of new cancer cases and decrease the mortality rate. The present review could further facilitate the design of ACPs and increase efficacious ACP therapy in the near future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wararat Chiangjong
- Pediatric Translational Research Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
| | - Somchai Chutipongtanate
- Pediatric Translational Research Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
| | - Suradej Hongeng
- Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
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GPCR Modulation in Breast Cancer. Int J Mol Sci 2018; 19:ijms19123840. [PMID: 30513833 PMCID: PMC6321247 DOI: 10.3390/ijms19123840] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2018] [Revised: 11/22/2018] [Accepted: 11/27/2018] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer found in women living in developed countries. Endocrine therapy is the mainstay of treatment for hormone-responsive breast tumors (about 70% of all breast cancers) and implies the use of selective estrogen receptor modulators and aromatase inhibitors. In contrast, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), a highly heterogeneous disease that may account for up to 24% of all newly diagnosed cases, is hormone-independent and characterized by a poor prognosis. As drug resistance is common in all breast cancer subtypes despite the different treatment modalities, novel therapies targeting signaling transduction pathways involved in the processes of breast carcinogenesis, tumor promotion and metastasis have been subject to accurate consideration. G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest family of cell-surface receptors involved in the development and progression of many tumors including breast cancer. Here we discuss data regarding GPCR-mediated signaling, pharmacological properties and biological outputs toward breast cancer tumorigenesis and metastasis. Furthermore, we address several drugs that have shown an unexpected opportunity to interfere with GPCR-based breast tumorigenic signals.
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