Pro-apoptotic peptides-based cancer therapies: challenges and strategies to enhance therapeutic efficacy

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. Despite many advances in the field of cancer therapy, an effective cure is yet to be found. As a more potent alternative for the conventional small molecule anti-cancer drugs, pro-apoptotic peptides have emerged as a new class of anticancer agents. By interaction with certain members in the apoptotic pathways, they could effectively kill tumor cells. However, there remain bottleneck challenges for clinical application of these pro-apoptotic peptides in cancer therapy. In this review, we will overview the developed pro-apoptotic peptides and outline the widely adopted molecular-based and nanoparticle-based strategies to enhance their anti-tumor effects.