Table 1.

Selected host defense peptides tested in in vitro studies for anticancer activity.^a

Peptide/Source	Sequence	In vitro study
α-Helical
Aureins Southern bell frog	GLFDIIKKIAESF (aurein 1.2)	60 cancer cell lines tested (human tumor line testing program of the US National Cancer Institute) (∼50 active) (Rozek et al., 2000)
BMAP-27/BMAP-28 Bovine	GRFKRFRKKFKKLFKKLSPVIPLLHLG/ GGLRSLGRKILRAWKKYGPIIVPIIRIG	Human tumor cells, leukemic cells (Risso et al., 1998)
Cecropin A Hyalophora cecropia Cecropin B Chinese oak silk moth	KWKLFKKIEKVGQNIRDGIIKAGPAVAVVGQATQIAK KWKIFKKIEKVGRNIRNGIIKAGPAVAVLGEAKAL	Bladder cancer (Suttmann et al., 2008) Leukemia (Chen et al., 1997), bladder cancer (Suttmann et al., 2008)
Citropins Australian blue mountains tree frog	GLFDVIKKVASVIGGL (Citropin 1.1)	60 human cancer cell lines (human tumor line testing program of the US National Cancer Institute) (Doyle et al., 2003); human histiocytic lymphoma cell line (Koszalka et al., 2011)
Epinicidin-1 Fish	GFIFHIIKGLFHAGKMIHGLV	Human lung carcinoma, cervix adenocarcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, fibrosarcoma, histiocytic lymphoma cells (Lin et al., 2009)
Gaegurin-6/-5 Korean wrinkled frog	FLPLLAGLAANFLPTIICKISYKC	Human lung, prostate, liver, kidney and breast cancer cell lines (Kim et al., 2003)
LL-37 Homo sapiens	LLGDFFRKSKEKIGKEFKRIVQRIKDFLRNLVPRTES	Jurkat human T leukemia cells, HeLa cells (Mader et al., 2009)
Magainins African clawed frog Pexiganan (MSI-78)	GIGKFLHSAKKFGKAFVGEIMNS (Magainin 2) GIGKFLKKAKKFGKAFVKILKK	Hematopoietic cell lines (Cruciani et al., 1991), Ehrlich ascites tumor cells, human adenocarcinoma (Baker et al., 1993), bladder cancer line (Lehmann et al., 2006), histiocytic lymphoma cell line (Koszalka et al., 2011)
Melittin Honey bee venom	GIGAVLKVLTTGLPALISWIKRKRQQ	Human hepatocellular carcinoma (Wang et al., 2009a); osteosarcoma (Chu et al., 2007); leukemic cells (Moon et al., 2008); prostate and ovarian (Holle et al., 2003), neuroblastoma cancer cells (Drechsler and Andrä, 2011)
NK-2 Porcine leukocytes NKCS and derivatives	KILRGVCKKIMRTFLRRISKDILTGKK KILRGVSKKIMRTFLRRISKDILTGKK	Human lymphocytes and seven human cancer cell lines (Schröder-Borm et al., 2005); human neuroblastoma cancer cells (Drechsler and Andrä, 2011) Human prostate carcinoma cells (Manavbasi et al., 2010)
Pep27 Strep. pneumonia	MRKEFHNVLSSGQLLADKRPARDYNRK	Leukemia cell lines (Lee et al., 2005)
Polybia-MPI P. paulista	IDWKKLLDAAKQIL	Human bladder cancer and prostate cancer cell line (Wang et al., 2008)
Temporin A Frog Rana temporaria	FLPLIGRVLSGIL	Human histiocytic lymphoma cell line (Koszalka et al., 2011)
β-sheet
Buforin II Bufo bufo gargarizans	TRSSRAGLQFPVGRVHRLLRK	62 cell lines (Lee et al., 2008); human histiocytic lymphoma cell line (Koszalka et al., 2011)
Human α-defensins Homo sapiens Defensins	ACYCRIPACIAGERRYGTCIYQGRLWAFCC (HNP1) Diverse sequences	Human lung adenocarcinoma (Xu et al., 2008) HeLa, glioma, kidney cancer, lung cancer, myeloma (Iwasaki et al., 2009)
Gomesin A. gomesiana	ECRRLCYKQRCVTYCRGR	Breast and colon adenocarcinoma, HeLa (Rodrigues et al., 2002)
Lactoferricin B Bovine	FKCRRWQWRMKKLGAPSITCVRRAF	Neuroblastoma (Eliassen et al., 2006), melanoma, mammary carcinoma, colorectal adenocarcinoma (Eliassen et al., 2003)
Protegrin-1 porcine	RGGRLCYCRRRFCVCVGR	Human histiocytic lymphoma cell line (Koszalka et al., 2011)
Tachyplesin I Southeast Asian horseshoe crab	KWCFRVCYRGICYRRCR	Human gastric adenocarcinoma (Shi et al., 2006); human hepatocarcinoma cells (Li et al., 2003);
Others
PR-39 Porcine small intestine	RRRPRPPYLPRPRPPPFFPPRLPPRIPPGFPPRFPPRFP	Human hepatocellular carcinoma cells (Ohtake et al., 1999)
Alloferon-1/-2 Insects	HGVSGHGOHGVHG/GVSGHGVHG	Mice (IFN-production) (Chernysh et al., 2002)
Dolastatin 10 D. auricularia	Dov-Val-Dil-Dap-Doeb	Murine PS leukemia cells (Pettit et al., 1987)

^aFor a complete list of anticancer peptides check http://aps.unmc.edu/AP/database/antiC.php.

^bDolavaline (Dov), dolaisoleuine (Dil), dola-proine (Dap), dolaphenine (Doe).