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Research Article Volume 17 Issue 3
Antitumor activity of cationic peptides is maintained in acquired multidrug-resistant tumors
Nataliya A Koroleva, Anna A Lushnikova, Olga G Kovtun, Anna A Rudakova, Mariya Kirpichenko, Alina A Belova, Sergej M Andreev
Received: April 29, 2026 | Published: May 8, 2026
Citation: Koroleva NA, Lushnikova AA, Kovtun OG, et al. Antitumor activity of cationic peptides is maintained in acquired multidrug-resistant tumors.J Cancer Prev Curr Res. 2026;17(3):61‒64. DOI: 10.15406/jcpcr.2026.17.00608
Abstract
Background: One of the reasons for the increase in cancer incidence is tumor multidrug resistance , associated with their polyclonality and the appearance of resistant tumor cells (RTC) in response to therapy. The development of drugs to solve this problem is an urgent matter of molecular oncology.1 Biodegradation-resistant cationic peptides (CPs) with a dendrimer structure and with immunomodulatory, antiviral, antibacterial activities are perspective for this purpose. Earlier, we have investigated a selective cytotoxicity of Arg/Lys-enriched CPs on sensitive and resistant tumor cell sublines. 2 We have revealed that multidrug resistance can be overcame through the interaction of CPs with specific molecular targets, including VEGFR2, FGFR, EGFR/ErB1, AQPs and glycosylated NCL, expressed by RTC on their surface in addition to t nucleus and cytoplasm. As multifunctional chaperone protein with kinase activity, NCL can regulate proliferation, transcription, translation, chromatin remodeling , ribosome biogenesis and other important cell functions , including tumor and stem tumor cells. Objective: Study of antitumor activity of Arg/Lys-enriched dendrimer-structured CPs in vivo .Development of approaches to model molecular interactions and search for cellular targets of CPs that induce tumor cell death, including RTC. Results: Some Arg/Lys-enriched CPs under our design and study induce apoptosis through inactivation their cell targets – chaperone proteins nucleolin/NCL and nucleophosmin/NPM both in sensitive and resistant tumor cells. The results obtained on murine subcutaneous xenografts of human melanoma mel IS ,hepatocarcinoma Huh-7, ductal pancreatic carcinoma AsPC1, clear cell renal cancer Rpoch1-KK. as well as breast cancer RTC HBL 100/ID 120, confirm wide antitumor activity of these CPs including tumors with acquired drug-resistance.
Keywords: tumor drug resistance, NCL/NPM expression, cationic peptides, apoptosis induction, ligand- cell targets molecular interactions.
©2026 Koroleva, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially.