A retro-inverso peptide homologous to helix 1 of c-Myc is a potent and specific inhibitor of proliferation in different cellular systems

SPECIFIC AIMSWhat we specifically tried to achieve here lies within a more general strategy for finding innovative antineoplastic drugs. The major points that characterize this new type of strategy are:1. Choice of a reductionist target, like the protein of a major oncogene, as a primary screening object, rather than the global behavior of a rapidly proliferating cancer cell. The availability of a large body of knowledge about the selected target signaling protein and about the signaling proteins that make cross-talks with it appears useful for the reasons mentioned below (points 3 and 4).2. To take full advantage of the recently offered opportunity of internalizing a variety of molecules of several thousands daltons carried inside the cell by a family of basic vector peptides, like the III α-helix of Antennapedia, a basic 11 amino acid-long motif from the transcription-activating factor Tat of HIV, or a peptide made up of a few clusters of up to nine arginine amino acids per cluster (as recently reported...