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REVIEW article

Front. Oncol.
Sec. Pharmacology of Anti-Cancer Drugs
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1463088
This article is part of the Research Topic Reviews in Pharmacology of Anti-Cancer Drugs: 2023 View all articles

From Defense to Offense: Antimicrobial Peptides as Promising Therapeutics for Cancer

Provisionally accepted
Hadi Zare-Zardini Hadi Zare-Zardini 1*Elham Saberian Elham Saberian 2Andrej Jenča Andrej Jenča 2Razieh Ghanipour-Meybodi Razieh Ghanipour-Meybodi 1
  • 1 Ayatollah Haeri University of Meybod, Meybod, Iran
  • 2 University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik, Košice, Slovakia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), naturally occurring components of innate immunity, are emerging as a promising new class of anticancer agents. This review explores the potential of AMPs as a novel class of anticancer agents. AMPs, naturally occurring peptides with broadspectrum antimicrobial activity, exhibit several characteristics that make them attractive candidates for cancer therapy, including selectivity for cancer cells, broad-spectrum activity, and immunomodulatory effects. Analysis of a dataset of AMPs with anticancer activity reveals that their effectiveness is influenced by various structural properties, including net charge, length, Boman index, and hydrophobicity. These properties contribute to their ability to target and disrupt cancer cell membranes, interfere with intracellular processes, and modulate the immune response. The review highlights the promising potential of AMPs as a new frontier in cancer treatment, offering hope for more effective and less toxic therapies. AMPs demonstrate promising potential in cancer therapy through multiple mechanisms, including direct cytotoxicity, immune response modulation, and targeting of the tumor microenvironment, as evidenced by extensive preclinical studies in animal models showing tumor regression, metastasis inhibition, and improved survival rates. AMPs show significant potential as cancer therapeutics through their direct cytotoxicity, immune response modulation, and tumor microenvironment targeting, with promising results from preclinical studies and early-phase clinical trials. Future research should focus on optimizing AMP properties, developing novel delivery strategies, and exploring synergistic combination therapies to fully realize their potential as effective cancer treatments, while addressing challenges related to stability, delivery, and potential toxicity.

    Keywords: antimicrobial peptides, cancer therapy, Immunomodulation, Cytotoxicity, tumor

    Received: 11 Jul 2024; Accepted: 09 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zare-Zardini, Saberian, Jenča and Ghanipour-Meybodi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Hadi Zare-Zardini, Ayatollah Haeri University of Meybod, Meybod, Iran

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.