Bioactive cationic peptides as potential agents for breast cancer treatment

Abstract

Breast cancer continues to affect millions of women worldwide, and the number of new cases dramatically increases every year. The physiological causes behind the disease are still not fully understood. One in every 100 cases can occur in men, and although the frequency is lower than among women, men tend to have a worse prognosis of the disease. Various therapeutic alternatives to combat the disease are available. These depend on the type and progress of the disease, and include chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, and cancer immunotherapy. However, there are several well-reported side effects of these treatments that have a significant impact on life quality, and patients either relapse or are refractory to treatment. This makes it necessary to develop new therapeutic strategies. One promising initiative are bioactive peptides, which have emerged in recent years as a family of compounds with an enormous number of clinical applications due to their broad spectrum of activity. They are widely distributed in several organisms as part of their immune system. The antitumoral activity of these peptides lies in a nonspecific mechanism of action associated with their interaction with cancer cell membranes, inducing, through several routes, bilayer destabilization and cell death. This review provides an overview of the literature on the evaluation of cationic peptides as potential agents against breast cancer under different study phases. First, physicochemical characteristics such as the primary structure and charge are presented. Secondly, information about dosage, the experimental model used, and the mechanism of action proposed for the peptides are discussed.

ΔM4: Membrane-Active Peptide with Antitumoral Potential against Human Skin Cancer Cells

“…Most peptides with recognized biological activity present a positive charge ranging from +2 to +9 [ 46 ]. Peptide mechanism of action starts with the attraction between the positively charged amino acids of the peptide and the negatively charged groups of the cancer cell membranes [ 47 , 48 ]. This interaction could be explained by the composition of the membrane, which has a crucial role given that the tumor cells have differentiating characteristics such as the exposure of the negatively charged phospholipid phosphatidylserine towards the external side of the membrane, as well as the presence of proteoglycan chains in the form of heparan sulfate, which are mucins that contribute to the initial electrostatic interaction with the peptide [ 49 , 50 ].…”

The role of peptides in reversing chemoresistance of breast cancer: current facts and future prospects

“…The positively charged residues on BCP can interact with the negatively charged groups on the tumor membrane, and then the acyl chain of the lipid membrane. The hydrophobic interaction between non-polar residues induces the instability of the lipid bilayer and structural and physicochemical changes, which in turn leads to cell death ( Manrique-Moreno et al, 2021 ). There are also bioactive peptides from natural aquatic products, including marine peptides, which have therapeutic potential in breast cancer ( Ahmed K. S. et al, 2021 ).…”