The peptide−drug conjugates (PDCs) are gaining recognition as a new modality for targeted drug delivery with improved efficacy and reduced side effects for cancer treatment, as well as playing a key role against bacterial or inflammatory lesions. Moreover, small molecular drug-loaded nanoparticles have attracted the researcher’s attention for targeted drug delivery towards malignancies. The specific addressing of tumor cells without affecting healthy tissue is currently a major desire in cancer therapy. The cell surface receptors which are frequently overexpressed on cancer cells can specifically interact with targeting peptides and are therefore considered promising targets for therapeutic applications. The use of a highly effective drug such as NSAIDs, chemotherapeutic drugs, antibiotics, miRNA, or other classes of cytotoxic agents linked with these targeting peptides and/or loaded on novel inorganic nanocarriers may serve as advanced tools in the discovery of novel drug delivery system (DDS) to treat malignancies.
In this Research Topic, we deal with the most advanced developments, covering modern clinical research, and evaluating the new target-specific peptide probes after conjugation with first-line medicines to drive the concept of PDCs. Conventional Chemotherapeutics are highly potent agents that utilize different mechanisms to display cytotoxicity. However, cytotoxicity is nonspecific, leading to reduced efficacy. Such crucial issues concerning the frontline perspectives will be addressed in this Research Topic by promoting the discussion on advanced therapeutic strategies to cure cancer. Different popular therapeutic strategies involve the use of targeting oriented peptide ligands for peptide-receptor response therapy, self-assembled peptide nanoprobes for receptor-mediated endocytosis, and delivery of small-size organic/ inorganic nanoparticles loaded peptides concomitantly conjugated with small drugs via pinocytosis pathways, sparing nonmalignant cells and tissues unaffected. PDCs conceptualized therapeutic modalities will be evaluated and discussed as an emerging era of the development of advanced clinical research to investigate the most innovative and sustainable therapeutic pathway.
The scope of this research topic will focus on (but is not limited to) the following:
• From histological evaluation to development stages of PDCs
• The role of novel designed PDCs in high-grade neuroendocrine tumors – preclinical and clinical studies
• The advance frontiers of radionuclide coupled PDCs for cancer treatment – especially for glioblastoma
• The development of novel PDCs incorporating first-line chemotherapeutics
• Understanding the resistance to first-line chemotherapeutics before and after conjugation with targeting peptides
• Synthetic lethality and role of cleavable linkers-chemistry in development of sustainable PDCs
• Harnessing proteases resistant linkers: from old promises to advance therapeutic horizons
Keywords:
anticancer peptides, drug delivery systems, theranostics, Adjuvant therapy, nanomaterials
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
The peptide−drug conjugates (PDCs) are gaining recognition as a new modality for targeted drug delivery with improved efficacy and reduced side effects for cancer treatment, as well as playing a key role against bacterial or inflammatory lesions. Moreover, small molecular drug-loaded nanoparticles have attracted the researcher’s attention for targeted drug delivery towards malignancies. The specific addressing of tumor cells without affecting healthy tissue is currently a major desire in cancer therapy. The cell surface receptors which are frequently overexpressed on cancer cells can specifically interact with targeting peptides and are therefore considered promising targets for therapeutic applications. The use of a highly effective drug such as NSAIDs, chemotherapeutic drugs, antibiotics, miRNA, or other classes of cytotoxic agents linked with these targeting peptides and/or loaded on novel inorganic nanocarriers may serve as advanced tools in the discovery of novel drug delivery system (DDS) to treat malignancies.
In this Research Topic, we deal with the most advanced developments, covering modern clinical research, and evaluating the new target-specific peptide probes after conjugation with first-line medicines to drive the concept of PDCs. Conventional Chemotherapeutics are highly potent agents that utilize different mechanisms to display cytotoxicity. However, cytotoxicity is nonspecific, leading to reduced efficacy. Such crucial issues concerning the frontline perspectives will be addressed in this Research Topic by promoting the discussion on advanced therapeutic strategies to cure cancer. Different popular therapeutic strategies involve the use of targeting oriented peptide ligands for peptide-receptor response therapy, self-assembled peptide nanoprobes for receptor-mediated endocytosis, and delivery of small-size organic/ inorganic nanoparticles loaded peptides concomitantly conjugated with small drugs via pinocytosis pathways, sparing nonmalignant cells and tissues unaffected. PDCs conceptualized therapeutic modalities will be evaluated and discussed as an emerging era of the development of advanced clinical research to investigate the most innovative and sustainable therapeutic pathway.
The scope of this research topic will focus on (but is not limited to) the following:
• From histological evaluation to development stages of PDCs
• The role of novel designed PDCs in high-grade neuroendocrine tumors – preclinical and clinical studies
• The advance frontiers of radionuclide coupled PDCs for cancer treatment – especially for glioblastoma
• The development of novel PDCs incorporating first-line chemotherapeutics
• Understanding the resistance to first-line chemotherapeutics before and after conjugation with targeting peptides
• Synthetic lethality and role of cleavable linkers-chemistry in development of sustainable PDCs
• Harnessing proteases resistant linkers: from old promises to advance therapeutic horizons
Keywords:
anticancer peptides, drug delivery systems, theranostics, Adjuvant therapy, nanomaterials
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.