Lytic peptides, including fusion peptides of lytic peptides conjugated with luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone or modified versions thereof to target luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone receptors, are disclosed. The lytic peptides show anti-proliferative activity against human prostate cancer cell lines, but are nontoxic to normal primary human prostate epithelial cells or to bone marrow stromal cells in co-culture. The lytic peptides have specificity for and anti-proliferative activity against prostate cancer tumor cells, and low toxicity for normal prostate cells, making the peptides useful in therapies for prostate cancer.
