The treatment of some high-incidence human diseases is based on therapeutic cell killing. In cancer this is mainly achieved by chemical drugs that are systemically administered to reach effective toxic doses. As an innovative alternative, cytotoxic proteins identified in nature can be adapted as precise therapeutic agents. For example, individual toxins and venom components, proapoptotic factors, and antimicrobial peptides from bacteria, animals, plants, and humans have been engineered as highly potent drugs. In addition to the intrinsic cytotoxic activities of these constructs, their biological fabrication by DNA recombination allows the recruitment, in single pharmacological entities, of diverse functions of clinical interest such as specific cell-surface receptor binding, self-activation, and self-assembling as nanoparticulate materials, with wide applicability in cell-targeted oncotherapy and theragnosis.

某些人类高发性疾病的治疗基于治疗性细胞杀伤。在癌症中，这主要是通过化学药物全身给药以达到有效的毒性剂量来实现的。作为一种创新的替代方法，可以将自然界中鉴定出的细胞毒性蛋白用作精确的治疗剂。例如，来自细菌，动物，植物和人类的单个毒素和毒液成分，促凋亡因子和抗菌肽已被工程化为高效药物。除了这些构建体的固有细胞毒性活性外，它们通过DNA重组的生物学制备还可以在单​​一药理实体中募集临床感兴趣的多种功能，例如特定的细胞表面受体结合，自我激活和自我组装。纳米颗粒材料