Peptide-based cancer therapy has been of great interest due to the
unique advantages of peptides, such as the low molecular weight, the
ability to specifically target tumor cells, easy availability and low
toxicity in normal tissues. Therefore, identify and synthesize novel
peptides could provide a promising choice to patients with cancer. The
antitumor second generation peptide CIGB-552 has been developed as a
candidate to cancer treatment. Proteomic and genomic studies have
identified the intracellular protein COMMD1 as the specific target of
CIGB-552. This peptide penetrates inside tumor cells to induce the
proteasomal degradation of RelA, causing the termination of NF-kB
signaling. The antitumor activity of CIGB-552 has been validated in
vitro in different human cancer cell lines, as well as in vivo in
syngeneic and xenograft tumor mouse models and in cancer-bearing dogs.
The aim of this review is to present and discuss the experimental data
about CIGB-552, its mechanism of action and its therapeutic potential in
human chronic diseases. This peptide is already in phase I of clinical
trials as antineoplastic drug, but also has possible application to
other inflammatory and metabolic conditions.