The Emergence of Microbial Protease as a Potential Anti-Cancer Agent
Rupak Mahapatra
Abstract
Cancer is one of the most dominant causes of human death globally. The most common mechanism responsible for the growth and survival of cancer cells involves inhibition of apoptosis. Numerous cytotoxic agents are used to induce apoptosis in a targeted manner. An array of conventional therapies including surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and hormonal treatments targeting apoptosis exists in contemporary time which also culminates in relapse of cancer, multi-drug resistance and hazardous toxic effects on normal healthy tissues, arising from non-targeted collateral dam- age to normal healthy tissues. In recent time, microbial protease seems to be a promising candidate for anti-cancer therapeutic management because of their specificity and efficiency in the targeted way of action. Microbial proteases are enzymes secreted from the various microbes hydrolysing the peptide bonds of proteins resulting in an inhibitory effect on growth, proliferation, invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis and motility of cancer cells. The present review will assess the anti-cancer potential of different microbial proteases reported in contemporary time. Whether microbial protease could lead to targeted onco-therapy in different human cancer will also be assessed.