Anticancer Potential of Antimicrobial Peptides: Mechanisms, Clinical Application, Challenges, and Future Prospects

Chemotherapy-induced adverse effects and drug resistance remain major obstacles limiting the therapeutic efficacy of cancer treatment, underscoring an urgent need for novel anticancer agents. Among promising candidate molecules, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) exhibit considerable therapeutic potential owing to their unique mechanisms of action, potent anticancer activity, minimal off-target toxicity, and low propensity to induce drug resistance. In this review, we summarize recent advances in the anticancer properties of AMPs, with a focus on their effects on both cancer cells and immune cells across diverse cancer types, clinical applications, as well as current challenges and future prospects. This review highlights the promise of AMPs as highly effective anticancer candidates for combination cancer therapy.