Peptides are the building blocks of an organism, and they are made up of different amino acids that have a covalent bond.
Peptides are molecules formed from a mixture of amino acids linked by peptide bonds through dehydration and condensation. Peptides are specifically obtained:
As an outcome of proteolysis
Precise production of the organism
Synthetic production
Peptides as cancer therapy
In many innovative therapies, peptides are used for the treatment of malignancy. Due to these techniques, it has been concluded that peptides are of great importance due to their low molecular weight, ability to accurately label tumor cells, reduce the harmfulness of tumors in certain tissues, and the repairs they make in DNA arrays that are damaged due to the action of some external or internal factor. When the amount of amino acids is less than 50, they are called peptides. If larger structures are involved, these molecules are called proteins.
Peptides exist in every living cell and contain a certain range of biochemical compounds. Peptides occur in the following forms of compounds:
Enzymes
Hormones
Antibiotics
Receptors
While used as a therapy for malignancies, peptides are based chemotherapy can be classified into three categories:
Peptide treatment alone – this treatment can be stimulating immune system reaction organisms to eradicate tumor cells.
Peptide-based serums – this protocol is used in highly developed malignancies to repair the patient’s overall condition.
A mixture of peptides and nanomaterials – This mixture has increased the peptides’ ability and an improved effect on various types of malignancy, which achieves increased drug distribution and increases malignant cells’ susceptibility.
Peptides and proteins
Peptides play a vital role in the basic physiological and biochemical processes that keep the organism alive. They can perform various tasks in the body. Several different peptides can control hormones. Your body also has the ability to break bonds in peptides and break them down into amino acids and thus destroy them.
The difference between proteins and peptides is not strictly defined. Proteins are much longer than peptides, and most proteins are composite structures with the ability to provide binding of all amino acids. Generally speaking, if more than 50 amino acids are linked, the component is characterized as a protein, while smaller chains are called peptides.
Combining peptides with other therapies
The influence of peptides as a weapon for targeting exclusively malignant cells is an alternative to the current classical chemotherapy transport methods in which malignant and other healthy cells are targeted.
Peptides can be used as carriers of radioactive isotopes for the precise destruction and targeting of exclusively malignant cells. Hormone therapies with peptides are widely used to manage breast and prostate malignancy. From clinical trials, it can be concluded that peptides may play a significant role in developing a malignancy vaccine.
The current trend in newer medical therapies is the use of combined treatments to achieve better effects of certain parts of therapy to have a better effect on malignant diseases. Combining immunological treatments with conventional treatments (radiotherapy and chemotherapy) or combining anticancer peptides with non-peptides, i.e., anti-cancer drugs, is a real example of the above.
Research
Paul Ehrlich, a German doctor and a Nobel Prize winner, was a pioneer who propagated the magic bullet idea. Since then, scientists have continued to hunt for targeted drugs that search for and label malignant cells while leaving the condition of healthy cells unchanged.
American scientist Linda Makas and her group discussed using peptides to target certain malignant diseases innovatively. In the report Molecular Pharmacology, these academics produced peptides that exclusively performed individual malignant cells’ targeting tasks.
Peptides and DNA
The protein, labeled PCNA, performs the classic DNA replication role when they separate. This protein organizes numerous proteins and enzymes associated with DNA replication and enables them to perform certain tasks during this process.
In malignant cells, the role of PCNA is transformed and is not the same as in normal cells. The scientific team of Linda Makas managed to make a peptide copy of this protein, which normally performed the classic PCNA protein’s mutated function in malignant cells.
Dr. Malkas’ team has published speculation that a copy of PCNA in malignant cells will make double DNA, which will obstruct malignant cells’ capacity and worsen their functions where they eventually die.
Moreover, this peptide is exclusively associated with and reacts with transformed PCNA in malignant cells and should limit its activities exclusively to cancer cells and have a mild and imperceptible effect on the organism’s healthy cells.
Using this treatment for breast malignancy in the laboratory, these researchers concluded that they were right when using their peptides. This artificially produced peptide is harmful. For malignant cells, while its effect on health is fragile.
Peptides targeted chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is currently one of the most prominent methods for destroying malignancy, acting on malignant and healthy cells. The center of orthodox chemotherapy is the failure to maintain the exact amount of medicine needed to destroy cancer cells while keeping healthy cells intact. Various other problems are as follows:
Long life of decomposition of matter
Bioconversion
Opposition drug
Chemotherapy and drug distribution modus operandi appear as authoritative methods to avoid these difficulties. In that case, a careful operative adaptation of drugs to pre-determined targets is needed through the definition of receptors and malignancies, which, along the way, limits the entry of these drugs into normal cells.
The discovery of numerous protein/peptide receptors and peptides associated with tumors and proteins generates a new wave of more successful cytotoxic drugs.
Any treatment that uses the human body’s natural abilities is one of the possibilities that can be used against malignancies, and the use of peptides, proteins, and monoclonal antibodies may be considered. Peptides contain many advantages, such as small size, ease of production, infiltrate tumors, and good biocompatibility.
Use of peptides in the treatment of diseases
In the last decade, peptides have been used in diabetes mellitus, circulatory problems, and malignancies.
Peptides can be used in several different ways to eliminate malignancies and can be used as drugs in the following cases:
As inhibitors of angiogenesis
As mediators that target the tumor and transmit ANT malignant drugs and the radioactive isotope (targeted chemotherapy and radiotherapy)
Hormones
Vaccines
Thanks to its ability to adapt to various receptors and become part of numerous biochemical processes, peptides represent many problems related to biomarkers and the spread of malignancy. Besides, peptides play a significant role in diagnosing malignancy, treatment of malignancy, and prediction of further development of malignancy.
Peptides as a vaccine
Unlike other elements, peptides are their ability to be selected in certain processes. Later, peptide treatment against malignancy, peptide vaccines, were recognized as a potential weapon from the moment the peptide vaccine for the prostate tumor was recognized in America. Many tests for many other types of malignancies, such as breast cancer, colon cancer, melanoma, glioblastoma, and others, have also been increased.
This discovery has increased the innovative approach to the whole issue to link nanomaterials and chemotherapy with individual peptides. Through scientific tests, it has been proven that some deadly diseases reduce their progression and slow the development of the disease.
Diagnosis of malignancy
At this point, peptides play a significant role in diagnoses of malignancy colon, which leads to an improved perspective of disease outcomes. Also, modern clinical studies have shown that there is an increased concentration of neutrophil peptides 1-3 in the colon tissue during raspberry changes. Also, it was found that the increased intensity of serum C peptide specifies an above-average risk of adenoma. These statistics have shown that peptides can be used as biomarkers to identify colorectal malignancy. In addition to their function in detecting colorectal malignancy, peptides have also shown their ability to eliminate colorectal malignancy.
In modern medicine, peptides have also been shown to identify lung cancer. With the advancement of nanotechnology, peptides that can be combined with nanomaterial have shown high potential in treating various types of malignancies, including lung cancer.
Peptides play a key role in identifying breast malignancy, which leads to a reduction in the mortality of women suffering from this vicious disease.
Summary
As you can see from this text, the role of peptides is huge and extensive, so that we can reduce it to these few pages, but it is obvious that their application is increasing in modern medicine. Extensive research is needed to find all the optimal properties of peptides and their proper use in treating many diseases.
