Anti-tumoral activity of human salivary peptides

Chemotherapy continues to be the standard treatment for advanced or metastasized cancer. However, commonly used chemotherapeutic agents may induce damage in healthy cells and tissues. Thus, in recent years, there has been an increased focus on the development of new, efficient anticancer drugs exhibiting low toxicity and that are not affected by mechanisms of chemoresistance. In the present work, we tested synthetic and naturally obtained human salivary peptides against breast, prostate, colon, osteosarcoma and bladder cancer cell lines (T47-D, PC-3, HT-29, MG63, T-24, respectively). Results have showed that there is a reduced cell population increase that is peptide-, cell- and possibly pathway-specific, with the most potent effect observed in observed in T-47D breast cancer cells. Protein expression and microscopy results further indicate that, in this cell line, the peptide with the sequence GPPPQGGRPQG (GG peptide) interferes with the ability of cell adhesion proteins to stabilize adherens junctions, such as E-cadherin, leading to apoptosis. These promising results encourage future works aimed at disclosing the vast potential of salivary peptides as new therapeutic agents.