Peptide-Drug Conjugates: A New Hope for Cancer Management

Abstract

Cancer remains the leading cause of death worldwide despite advances in treatment options for patients. As such, safe and effective therapeutics are required. Short peptides provide advantages to be used in cancer management due to their unique properties, amazing versatility, and progress in biotechnology to overcome peptide limitations. Several appealing peptide-based therapeutic strategies have been developed. Here, we provide an overview of peptide conjugates, the better equivalents of antibody-drug conjugates, as the next generation of drugs for required precise targeting, enhanced cellular permeability, improved drug selectivity, and reduced toxicity for the efficient treatment of cancers. We discuss the basic components of drug conjugates and their release action, including the release of cytotoxins from the linker. We also present peptide-drug conjugates under different stages of clinical development as well as regulatory and other challenges.

Keywords: cancer; drug delivery; peptide-drug conjugates; short peptides.

Figure 1

Schematic diagram of the components of peptide-drug conjugates (Created with Biorender.Com). Peptide, protein, antibody, small molecular drug, and aptamer is used as a carrier. If a peptide is used as a carrier, it is known as a peptide-drug conjugate.

Figure 2

Different types of polypeptide-drug linkers commonly used in the rational design of poly peptide-drug conjugates (Adopted under CC BY 4.0 from [103]). In the figure, white bubble indicates PDCs. The green triangle is a therapeutic agent. The red colored line indicates the linker and the green colored ribbon type structure indicates polypeptide. In the linker, different types of linkers are discussed.

Figure 3

Summary of different types of peptides that nanoparticles can deliver to cancer cells. Figure was created using biorender.com.