Recent Advances in Peptide-Based Approaches for Cancer Treatment

Peptide-based pharmaceuticals have recently experienced a renaissance due to their ability to fill the gap between the two main classes of available drugs, small molecules and biologics. Peptides combine the high potency and selectivity typical of large proteins with some of the characteristic advantages of small molecules such as synthetic accessibility, stability and the potential of oral bioavailability. One of the applications in which peptide-based approaches have grown rapidly is cancer therapy, with a focus on new and established targets. Many novel peptide-based methods for cancer treatment have been developed in the last few years, ranging from naturally-occurring and modified peptides to peptide-drug conjugates, peptide nanomaterials and peptide-based vaccines. This review focuses on recent advances, advantages and challenges of these selected peptide-based approaches for cancer treatment.