Contact Us
800.227.0627

Anticancer Peptides

Print Print
02/19/2014

Anticancer Peptides

Anticancer peptides are peptides that can be used as therapeutic agents to treat various cancers.  A search of the U.S. National Institutes of the ClinicalTrials.gov database using the phrase 'anticancer peptides' performed on January 2014 found 10 peptide based trails that target different types of cancer. Furthermore, J. Thundimadathil reported in 2012 that there were several hundred peptide candidates in clinical and preclinical development, some of them targeting cancer. The Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) estimates that there were 12.7 million new cancer cases in 2008 worldwide, an estimated total cancer death rate of 7.6 million which corresponds to about 21,000 cancer deaths a day. In addition, by 2030, the global cancer burden is expected to grow to 21.4 million cases and 13.2 million cancer deaths annually. In addition, it is estimated by the American Cancer Society that up to 50% or more cancer cases maybe preventable. In recent years, it has become clear that there is still a need for better drugs to allow for the treatment of the multitude of different cancers. Furthermore, drug resistance, altered biodistribution, biotransformation, and drug clearance are common problems encountered in present day cancer therapies. The discovery of protein receptors, peptide receptors and tumor-related peptides and proteins as well as host defense peptides, among others, may lead to the creation of a new wave of more effective and selective anticancer drugs with hopefully exhibit less side effects. The use solid-phase peptide synthesis to create peptide libraries that allow for the screening for new types of anticancer peptides will surely be beneficial as well.


References

Diana Gaspar, A. Salomé Veiga and Miguel A. R. B. Castanho<http://www.frontiersin.org/Community/WhosWhoActivity.aspx?sname=MiguelCastanho&UID=52339>; From antimicrobial to anticancer peptides. A review. Front. Microbiol., 01 October 2013 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2013.00294.

Thundimadathil J.; Cancer treatment using peptides: current therapies and future prospects. J Amino Acids.<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23316341> 2012;2012:967347. doi: 10.1155/2012/967347. Epub 2012 Dec 20.