Antimicrobial peptides as potential therapy for gastrointestinal cancers.

Since conventional therapy faces limitations in the field of different cancers as well as gastrointestinal cancers, that decrease the survival rate of patients, there is an urgent need to find new effective therapeutic approaches without the adverse effects of the traditional agents. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) attract much attention and are well known for their role in innate immunity. These peptides, in addition to their antimicrobial activity, exhibit strong anticancer potential against various types of malignancy. AMPs specifically target tumor cells and have selective toxicity for these cells without affecting normal cells. Here we aim to comprehensively overview the current knowledge in the field of using AMPs as novel therapeutic agents for gastrointestinal cancer.