Abstract
Breast cancer continues to affect millions of women worldwide, and the number of new cases dramatically increases every year. The physiological causes behind the disease are still not fully understood. One in every 100 cases can occur in men, and although the frequency is lower than among women, men tend to have a worse prognosis of the disease. Various therapeutic alternatives to combat the disease are available. These depend on the type and progress of the disease, and include chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, and cancer immunotherapy. However, there are several well-reported side effects of these treatments that have a significant impact on life quality, and patients either relapse or are refractory to treatment. This makes it necessary to develop new therapeutic strategies. One promising initiative are bioactive peptides, which have emerged in recent years as a family of compounds with an enormous number of clinical applications due to their broad spectrum of activity. They are widely distributed in several organisms as part of their immune system. The antitumoral activity of these peptides lies in a nonspecific mechanism of action associated with their interaction with cancer cell membranes, inducing, through several routes, bilayer destabilization and cell death. This review provides an overview of the literature on the evaluation of cationic peptides as potential agents against breast cancer under different study phases. First, physicochemical characteristics such as the primary structure and charge are presented. Secondly, information about dosage, the experimental model used, and the mechanism of action proposed for the peptides are discussed.
Highlights
Cancer is defined as a broad group of diseases characterized by uncontrolled and abnormal cell growth, which frequently invades adjacent organs or tissues and spreads into the body
According to statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 2.3 million women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020, while there were 685000 deaths globally [3]
The two most common types are infiltrating ductal carcinoma, where cancer cells multiply outside the ducts and invade other parts of the breast tissue, and infiltrating lobular carcinoma, in which cancer cells spread from the lobules to nearby tissues [7]
Summary
Bioactive cationic peptides as potential agents for breast cancer treatment Marcela Manrique-Moreno, Gloria A. Health programs aimed at improving the detection of signs and symptoms of early breast cancer, so that patients are referred to diagnostic services in the first stages of the disease, are essential in order to reduce the number of cases [25]. Radical mastectomy was traditionally the treatment for early-detected cases of invasive breast cancer This allowed local control of the disease, since the goal of this treatment was to remove the affected area, avoiding metastasis. It is necessary to develop new therapeutic strategies based on systems that increase selectivity for use individually or synergistically with conventional breast cancer procedures These can offer patients more selective and less cytotoxic alternatives, improving their quality of life
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
