Restoration of the Lost Human Beta Defensin-1 Protein in Cancer as a Strategy to Improve the Efficacy of Chemotherapy

Both innate and adaptive immunity are important components of the human defense system against various diseases including cancer. Human beta defensin-1 (hBD-1) is one such immunomodulatory peptide which is lost in malignant cancers, while high levels of expression are maintained in benign cells, making it a potential biomarker for the onset and metastasis of the disease. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive form of breast cancer for which no targeted therapy has been approved so far. That makes chemotherapy a first line of treatment despite high side effects. A priori Activation of Apoptosis Pathways of Tumor often referred to as AAAPT technology is a novel targeted tumor sensitizing technology that sensitizes low responsive and resistant tumor cells to evoke a better response from the current treatments for TNBC. Here, we show that hBD-1 is a targeted tumor sensitizer.