Abstract
Lung cancer is a major health burden accounting for 1.59 million deaths worldwide. For both sub-types of lung cancer (NSCLC and SCLC), chemotherapy is an option. However, success is limited and side effects are detrimental to an individuals’ overall quality of life. To complicate matters further, cancer cells can develop resistance to chemotherapeutic agents due to the presence of membrane associated proteins such as P-glycoprotein and Multidrug resistance-associated protein. Thus it is, imperative that new drug treatments are developed that have neither the toxicity nor mechanisms of resistance associated with conventional chemotherapy. In recent years, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have attracted attention as potential anti-cancer drugs due to reports that they can selectively target and kill cancer cells while leaving normal healthy cells unaffected. This review summaries several studies and discusses whether AMPs could be a viable treatment option in the fight against lung cancer.
Highlights
In 2012 it was reported that there was an estimated 14 million new cancer cases and 8.2 million cancer related deaths worldwide with lung cancer being the most common cause of death [1]
The majority of lung cancers arise in epithelial cells and can broadly be divided into two sub-groups: nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) which account for 85% and 15% of all lung cancer cases respectively
With specific regard to lung cancer it has been reported that 90% of SCLC tumours will initially respond to chemotherapy, but patients almost always relapse with multidrug-resistant disease while the NSCLC tumours has a much lower response rate due to inherent drug resistance [6]
Summary
In 2012 it was reported that there was an estimated 14 million new cancer cases and 8.2 million cancer related deaths worldwide with lung cancer being the most common cause of death [1]. While several treatment options exist, chemotherapy remains the treatment choice for advanced/metastatic disease Unlike other cancers such as breast and prostate, survival rates for lung cancer have not shown great improvements. With specific regard to lung cancer it has been reported that 90% of SCLC tumours will initially respond to chemotherapy, but patients almost always relapse with multidrug-resistant disease while the NSCLC tumours has a much lower response rate due to inherent drug resistance [6]. There is only a 10-20%, 5 year survival rate for NSCLC due to the aggressiveness of the disease and the lack of effective treatments [7] It is, imperative that new drug treatments are developed that have neither the toxicity nor mechanisms of resistance associated with conventional chemotherapy
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