A view on cell penetrating peptides for cancer treatment

New Arsenal in the Battle Against Cancer: Pharmaceutical Smart Bombs Promise Less Collateral Damage for Patients
Cybrexa Therapeutics CEO Per Hellsund and CSO Vishwas Paralkar talk to Lonza about how their enterprise is shaping the future of cancer treatment with cell-penetrating peptides.

One of the biggest obstacles to safely eliminating cancerous cells is that most therapies also negatively impact a patient's healthy organs and tissues, known as bystanders. This notorious problem has hindered effective treatment since the beginning of oncology and often has devastating effects on patients’ quality of life. One novel strategy pursued by Cybrexa Therapeutics is the design of treatments that specifically target solid tumors made of cancer cells by taking advantage of one of their universal biomarkers – acidity. The company has developed a platform that leverages the low pH environment inherent to cancer cell metabolism. By using cell-penetrating peptides bearing an anticancer cargo load, their platform brings the treatment directly inside tumors, leaving healthy cells alone and minimizing bystander killings. This smart anti-tumor technology promises to be applicable to a wide swath of patients and reduce side effects of cancer treatment

Curious to Know More?
Listen to the conversation between Lonza and Cybrexa Therapeutics researchers in this episode of the podcast "A View On."

KEY TERMS:
Acidity of cancer cells: Current research shows that cancer cells exhibit a type of cell metabolism known as aerobic glycolysis, a process that generates lactic acid and creates a more acidic environment in and around tumors.

Cell-penetrating peptide: Peptides are strings of amino acids that can be utilized for drug delivery. They are wobbly in structure and ineffective at penetrating cells under normal pH levels but rigidify when reaching acidic environments and can then enter the targeted cell.

Linkers: A chemical bond that allows for a drug to attach to its carrier and be delivered to a specific target. For Cybrexa, this bond connects the peptide to the cytotoxic molecule or DNA inhibitor for the efficient targeting of cancer cells and tumors.

Cytotoxic drugs: Cytotoxic drugs in cancer therapy, such as chemotherapy, are not only toxic to cancer cells but do damage to other healthy cells, creating unwanted side effects to treatment. New research is showing how, when combined with cell-penetrating peptides, cytotoxic molecule delivery can be limited to the acidic environments of cancer cells, thereby avoiding off-target toxicity and bystander killings.

DNA repair inhibitors: A relatively recent form of cancer treatment that oncologists often use in conjunction with chemotherapy. Inhibiting the repair mechanisms of cancer cells effectively turns the table on the tumor, the cancerous cells of which have hijacked the healthy DNA of a patient and use the cells natural repairing properties to become resistant to chemotherapy. By employing DNA repair inhibitors targeted specifically to cancer cells, researchers hope to increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy and reduce its side effects.

Dose-limiting toxicity: When the side effects of a drug or other cancer treatment prohibit a dose increase that would otherwise be beneficial to the cancer therapy. By removing this boundary, therapies could be much more efficient in destroying cancerous cells in the body.