AUTHOR=Varela-Quitián Yahson Fernando , Mendez-Rivera Fabio Enrique , Bernal-Estévez David Andres 

TITLE=Cationic antimicrobial peptides: potential templates for anticancer agents

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2025.1548603

DOI=10.3389/fmed.2025.1548603

ISSN=2296-858X

ABSTRACT=Cancer is a major global health concern and one of the leading causes of death worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there is an urgent need for novel therapeutic agents to treat this disease. Some antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have demonstrated activity against both microbial pathogens and cancer cells. Among these, cationic AMPs (CAMPs) have garnered significant attention because of their ability to selectively interact with the negatively charged surfaces of cancer cell membranes. CAMPs present several advantages such as high specificity for targeting cancer cells, minimal toxicity to normal cells, reduced probability of inducing resistance, stability under physiological conditions, ease of chemical modification, and low production costs. This review focuses on CAMPs with anticancer properties such as KLA, bovine lactoferricin derivatives, and LTX-315, and briefly explores common bioinformatics tools for Anticancer Peptides (ACPs) selection pipeline from AMPs.