Therapeutic peptides in anticancer therapy

Peptide-based therapeutics conjugated with various nanomaterials or bioactives have shown promising effects in anticancer therapy and thus has evolved as emerging anticancer agents. For designing effective peptide-based nanodelivery systems, it is very important to have significant information regarding the structure and type of protein. Several studies have been demonstrated for the establishment of peptides that could potentially assist in efficient tumor targeting and penetrate the biological membranes with lesser or negligible cytotoxicity. Peptides which could effectively accumulate and form pores can potentially deteriorate the cellular or organelle membranes and cause apoptosis or necrosis. In particular, cell-permeable and tumor-homing peptides could potentially carry the bioactive moieties to the cancerous cells or tumor microenvironment. The major concerns for effective peptide-based anticancer or antitumor targeting include improved targeted delivery and minimized cytotoxicity. The nanomaterials including, polymeric/lipid-based complexes, metallic nanoparticles, micellar structures, dendrimers, and others could play a significant role in enhancing the therapeutic activities of a peptide-based delivery system for efficient anticancer therapy. In the present work, the properties, limitations, targeted activities, and role of the nanoparticulate system in the development of peptide-based therapeutics in anticancer therapy have been summarized.