Emergent Peptides of the Antifibrotic Arsenal: Taking Aim at Myofibroblast Promoting Pathways.
Zhen LiuXinyan ZhangYanrong WangYifan TaiXiaolin YaoAdam C MidgleyPublished in: Biomolecules (2023)
Myofibroblasts are the principal effector cells driving fibrosis, and their accumulation in tissues is a fundamental feature of fibrosis. Essential pathways have been identified as being central to promoting myofibroblast differentiation, revealing multiple targets for intervention. Compared with large proteins and antibodies, peptide-based therapies have transpired to serve as biocompatible and cost-effective solutions to exert biomimicry, agonistic, and antagonistic activities with a high degree of targeting specificity and selectivity. In this review, we summarize emergent antifibrotic peptides and their utilization for the targeted prevention of myofibroblasts. We then highlight recent studies on peptide inhibitors of upstream pathogenic processes that drive the formation of profibrotic cell phenotypes. We also briefly discuss peptides from non-mammalian origins that show promise as antifibrotic therapeutics. Finally, we discuss the future perspectives of peptide design and development in targeting myofibroblasts to mitigate fibrosis.
Keyphrases
- pulmonary fibrosis
- cancer therapy
- induced apoptosis
- amino acid
- transforming growth factor
- randomized controlled trial
- gene expression
- machine learning
- single cell
- regulatory t cells
- small molecule
- dendritic cells
- cell cycle arrest
- stem cells
- immune response
- big data
- signaling pathway
- cell therapy
- cell death
- epithelial mesenchymal transition
- cell proliferation
- bone marrow
- mesenchymal stem cells
- structural basis
- pi k akt