Small but mighty - Peptides as next-generation immunotargeting agents in gynecological cancers

Sep 22, 2026

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Women’s most common cancers—ovarian, cervical, and endometrial—remain major causes of cancer-related illness and death worldwide. Achieving success with modern immunotherapy requires accurate tumor targeting, yet monoclonal antibodies, aptamers, and antisense oligonucleotides face limitations in size, cost, immune responses, and tumor penetration. This review explains why peptides are emerging as next-generation immunotargeting tools, spanning drug targeting, imaging, and peptide-based vaccines.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Immunotargeting in gynecologic cancers

Peptides as next-generation immunotargeting agents

Drug targeting, imaging, and vaccine applications

Advances in peptide-drug conjugates and receptor-targeting

Translational Oncology 67 (2026) 102751 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Translational Oncology journal [homepage:](homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tranon)[ www.elsevier.com/locate/tranon](homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tranon) | Review Article
Small but mighty: Peptides as next-generation immunotargeting agents in gynecological cancers
Pankaj Garga, Madhu Krishna b, Sharad S. Singhalb,*
a Department of Chemistry, GLA University, NH-19, Mathura-Delhi Road, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, 281406, India
b Department of Medical Oncology and Therapeutic Research, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, 1500 E Duarte Road, Duarte, CA, 91010, USA | | | | --- | --- | --- | | A R T I C L E I N F O | | A B S T R A C T | | Keywords:
Gynecological cancers Immunotargeting agents Peptide-drug conjugates Targeted drug delivery Tumor-specific ligands Peptide based cancer vaccines | | The most common cancers in women, ovarian, cervical and endometrial, are still a significant cause of cancerrelated illness and death around the world. Success with the newest immunotherapy can only be achieved when the treatment targets the tumor accurately. Although monoclonal antibodies, aptamers and antisense oligonucleotides are traditionally used in immunotargeting, they face challenges related to bulkiness, their price, immune response and reaching tumors. For these reasons, peptides are now considered important next-generation substances for immunotargeting. This review describes how peptides are becoming increasingly significant in gynecological oncology through their application in drug targeting, imaging cancer, and making vaccines. Findings on how peptide targeting systems measure up to other approaches and some recent advances in designing peptide-drug conjugates, receptor-targeting therapies, and CAR-T therapies are discussed. This review also discuss about how peptides are stable, how to deliver them selectively and how artificial intelligence supports better peptide designing. With the development of precision medicine, the use of peptide-based immunotargeting can greatly improve both the success and safety of treatments for cancer of the uterus and ovaries. | Introduction Ovarian, cervical, endometrial, vaginal, and vulvar cancers put women’s health at risk globally and continue to cause many health problems and deaths, despite new methods for screening and treatment. Due to indefinite early symptoms and limited reliable screening tests, ovarian cancer is usually discovered late and has a poor outlook [1]. Cervical cancer although accountable to take many lives among women from low- and middle-income countries, even though it is usually inevitable. Similarly, clinicians detect endometrial cancer from bleeding early on, more cases are being found in obese and postmenopausal people, making the disease more aggressive [2]. As a group, they clearly reveal the necessity for new and better ways to treat these disorders, targeting challenges such as drug resistance, safety issues and tumors with many different cells. With the advent of immunotherapy, there is now a new way to use the body’s immune system to fight cancer. Indifferent forms of solid and liquid cancers, treatments such as, immune checkpoint inhibitors, cancer vaccines, chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cells, and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) have performed very well [3]. Researchers are closely examining immunotherapy in gynecologic cancers, focusing on ovarian and cervical cancers, due to strong evidence of tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) and immune dysregulation. Their success depends on how exactly and efficiently focusing immune effectors or drugs at cancer cells, a process known as immunotargeting. When immunotargeting is successful, both treatment accuracy and off-target tissue impact are improved, which is especially important for gynecologic tissues [4]. Immunotargeting is largely based on the use of monoclonal antibodies (m

FAQs

Why is immunotargeting crucial in gynecological cancers?

Immunotargeting improves treatment accuracy and reduces off-target effects by focusing immune effectors or drugs on cancer cells. This is especially important for gynecologic tissues.

What limitations do traditional immunotargeting options have?

Monoclonal antibodies, aptamers, and antisense oligonucleotides face challenges such as bulkiness, high price, immune response issues, and difficulties reaching tumors. Aptamers can dissolve rapidly and be degraded, while ASOs may have limited cell entry and gene-related interference.

How do peptides advance immunotargeting compared with older approaches?

Peptides are highlighted as next-generation substances for immunotargeting because they can support drug targeting, cancer imaging, and peptide-based vaccine development. The review also discusses advances in peptide-drug conjugates, receptor-targeting therapies, and CAR-T-related approaches.

Sep 22, 2026

Upload by Maeve