생화학분자생물학회

	Byungheon Lee( leebh@knu.ac.kr )
	2003-present	Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, South Korea
	2021-present	Director, Tumor Plasticity Research Center, Kyungpook National University, South Korea
	2018-2020	Vice Dean for Academic Affairs, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, South Korea
	2001-2003	Visiting Scholar, Sanford Burnham Prebys Institute for Medical Research, San Diego, USA
	1991-1995	PhD, Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, South Korea
	1983-1989	B.S. School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, South Korea

Peptides as multifunctional players in cancer therapy

Peptides exhibit lower affinity and a shorter half-life in the body than antibodies. Conversely, peptides demonstrate higher efficiency in tissue penetration and cell internalization than antibodies. Regardless of the pros and cons of peptides, they have been used as tumor-homing ligands for delivering carriers (such as nanoparticles, extracellular vesicles, and cells) and cargoes (such as cytotoxic peptides and radioisotopes) to tumors. Additionally, tumor-homing peptides have been conjugated with cargoes such as small-molecule or chemotherapeutic drugs via linkers to synthesize peptide-drug conjugates. In addition, peptides selectively bind to cell surface receptors and proteins, such as immune checkpoints, receptor kinases, and hormone receptors, subsequently blocking their biological activity or serving as hormone analogs. Furthermore, peptides internalized into cells bind to intracellular proteins and interfere with protein-protein interactions. Thus, peptides demonstrate great application potential as multifunctional players in cancer therapy.

Exp Mol Med. 2023 Jun;55(6):1099-1109. doi: 10.1038/s12276-023-01016-x
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37258584/