Anticancer peptide therapeutics

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML), with 20830 new cases and 10460 deaths estimated in 2015, is a relatively rare cancer in the US. Despite a high rate of remission following initial chemotherapy, more than half of those AML patients who attain remission will relapse within three years, attributing to a 5-year overall survival rate of only ~25%. It is now known that genotoxic chemotherapy itself also induces AML relapse due to DNA damage and mutation. New therapies, particularly those without genotoxic effects, are needed for improved AML treatment. Targeted molecular therapy is superior to chemotherapy as the former aims to kill tumor cells while sparing normal cells by targeting specific proteins or signaling pathways that either promote or suppress tumorigenesis. One of the most promising molecular targets for anticancer drug discovery is the tumor suppressor protein p53. The proposed research aims to develop a novel anticancer strategy where potent peptide activators of p53 as tumor-killing agents are delivered via a tumor-recognizing monoclonal antibody into cancer cells, but not normal cells, for targeted molecular therapy of AML.