Protein therapeutics as an emerging strategy to deal with skin cancer: A short review

Cancer has turned into a global menace with an exponential increase in the rate of death every year. Amongst all forms of cancers, skin cancer is the one becoming more common day by day because of the increased exposure to ultraviolet rays, chemicals, pollutants, etc. Skin cancer is of three types namely basal cell, squamous cell and melanoma which is one of the most aggressive forms of cancer with a low survival rate and easy relapse. Melanoma is also notorious for being multi-drug resistant which accounts for its low survival rates in it. Many kinds of therapeutics are been practiced in the contemporary world, but among them, protein therapeutics is been emerging as a promising field with multiple molecular pathway targets that have revolutionized the science of oncology. Proteins acts as small-molecule targets for cancer cells by binding to the cell surface receptors. Proteins including bromodomain and extra-terminal domain (BET) and some toxin proteins are been tried on for dealing with melanoma targeting the major pathways including MAPK, NF-kappa B and PI3K/AKT. The protein therapeutics also targets the tumour microenvironment including myofibrils, lymphatic vessels etc., thus inducing tumour cell death. In the review, several kinds of proteins and their function toward cell death will be highlighted in the context of skin cancer. In addition to this, the review will look into the inhibition of the function of other inflammatory pathways by inflammasomes and cytokines, both of which have a role in preventing cancer. Proteins are well-explored area in the field of targeted therapies for cancer treatment due to several advantages over other therapies. They have immunomodulatory properties, reduce toxicity and enhanced efficacy against skin cancer cells. The main challenge faced for target delivery of such proteins includes bio-barriers and their suitability with the target cell for inducing apoptosis which is met by bioengineering. The protein interacts in tumour micro-environment and modulates the secretion of respective cells which eventually leads to killing of cancer cells.image