Peptide-based targeted therapeutics and apoptosis imaging probes for cancer therapy.

Peptides have advantages over antibodies in terms of deep tissue penetration, low immunogenicity, and cost-effective production, but they have short circulation time and poor stability in vivo. Peptides have been extensively used as targeting moieties for the delivery of drug-loaded nanoparticles and function as targeted therapeutics in cancer treatment. Here, we review peptides that are exploited as targeted therapeutics in cancer therapy and apoptosis imaging probes for the monitoring of treatment responses.