Disclosed herein, inter alia, are methods and uses for treating a cancer in a subject. In various embodiments, a method or use includes measuring expression of nuclear factor erythroid-2 related factor 2 (NRF2), or an NRF2 target gene, in a candidate subject having cancer, or a cancer sample from the candidate subject, and determining the amount of NRF2 in the sample or in the subject having cancer, then comparing the amount of NRF2 determined, or NRF2 target gene determined, to a baseline or reference amount of NRF2 or NRF2 target gene. If the amount of NRF2 or NRF2 target gene in the sample or in the subject having cancer is less than the baseline or reference amount of NRF2 or NRF2 target gene, the subject having the cancer may be or is treated with a peptide or peptidomimetic sequence set forth herein, such as P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6 (SEQ ID NO:1) or P6, P5, P4, P3, P2, P1 (SEQ ID NO:2), e.g., CBP501.
