Ribonucleases and Immunoribonucleases as Potential Modalities of Anticancer Therapy

A novel approach of antitumor treatment, that involves targeting RNA either using specific antisense oligonucleotides or cytostatic/cytotoxic ribonucleases (RNases), is being promoted. Among recently described cytotoxic RNases, amphibian RNases, including ranpirnase (onconase; ONC) and Amphinase (rAmph), are promising anticancer agents. They manifest strong antitumor effects and act synergistically with several cytostatics. Recently, rapidly developed proteins by engineering of RNases, displayed cytotoxic activity against several types of malignant cells. Most recent data show the role of microRNAs in mediating tumor progression, opening a new field of possible molecular targets for RNases. This review summarizes the current status of those RNases and immunoRNases as promising novel anticancer therapeutics.