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Pro-apoptotic peptides-based cancer therapies: challenges and strategies to enhance therapeutic efficacy

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Abstract

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. Despite many advances in the field of cancer therapy, an effective cure is yet to be found. As a more potent alternative for the conventional small molecule anti-cancer drugs, pro-apoptotic peptides have emerged as a new class of anticancer agents. By interaction with certain members in the apoptotic pathways, they could effectively kill tumor cells. However, there remain bottleneck challenges for clinical application of these pro-apoptotic peptides in cancer therapy. In this review, we will overview the developed pro-apoptotic peptides and outline the widely adopted molecular-based and nanoparticle-based strategies to enhance their anti-tumor effects.

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The figure from (Sharma et al. 2017a, b) was modified with permission

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by grants from the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (NRF-2015R1C1A1A02036781 to Meong Cheol Shin and NRF-2017R1C1B5015491 to Kyoung Ah Min).

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  1. College of Pharmacy and Inje Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research, Inje University, 197 Injero, Gimhae, Gyeongnam, 621-749, Republic of Korea

    Kyoung Ah Min & Pooja Maharjan

  2. College of Pharmacy and Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Gyeongsang National University, 501 Jinju Daero, Jinju, Gyeongnam, 660-751, Republic of Korea

    Songhee Ham & Meong Cheol Shin

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  1. Kyoung Ah Min
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Min, K.A., Maharjan, P., Ham, S. et al. Pro-apoptotic peptides-based cancer therapies: challenges and strategies to enhance therapeutic efficacy. Arch. Pharm. Res. 41, 594–616 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12272-018-1038-y

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