Anti-cancer Peptides and Peptide-Like Molecules

Dear Colleagues,

Anticancer peptides are currently being found to be effective in inducing cancer cell death by tumor cell necrosis (e.g., PNC-27), apoptosis (e.g., p53 effector peptides), or in inducing reversion of tumor cells to the untransformed phenotype (e.g., ras-21 effector peptides). These peptides exert their effects on cancer cells and do not affect normal cells, giving them a major advantage over commonly used chemotherapeutic drugs. Although the half-lives of anticancer peptides are relatively short, they interact with their targets rapidly, resulting in cancer cell death or phenotypic reversion. Examples of these peptides include PNC-27, that contains the HDM-2 binding domain of p53 (residues 12–26) attached to an antennapedia leader sequence that binds to an HDM-2 isotype uniquely expressed in the membranes of cancer cells but not normal cells. When bound to HDM-2, this complex induces the formation of transmembrane pores, resulting in extrusion of intracellular contents and tumor cell necrosis. It has been found to obliterate highly metastatic pancreatic cancer in nude mice and to effectively treat human acute myelogenous leukemias in nude mice with no off-target effects. Other p53 peptides from its carboxyl terminal domain have been found to cause apoptosis or tumor cell necrosis of a variety of human tumors without affecting normal cells. Peptides designed from molecular modeling of oncogenic forms of ras-p21 have been found to induce phenotypic reversion of a variety of human and rat cancers by selectively blocking only the oncogenic ras-p21 pathway. This volume will discuss the antitumor effects of these new peptides and their mechanisms of action and suggest how they may be used clinically.

Prof. Dr. Wilbur B. Bowne
Dr. Matthew R. Pincus
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biomedicines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.