Abstract

A REVIEW ON CANCER MULTI DRUG RESISTANCE AND ITS THERAPY

Hemangi Rawal* and Vidhi Doshi

Abstract

Chemotherapeutics are the most effective means for the treatment for metastatic tumours. However, the ability of cancer cells to become simultaneously resistant to different drugs a- trait known as multidrug resistance remains a significant impediment to successful chemotherapy. There are various mechanisms through which cancer cells develop resistance to anticancer drugs which may vary depending on the type of drugs used, type of cells involved and even depending on an individual patient. But some patients are cured by these drugs and others respond transiently or incompletely, this may be due to host and tumour genetic alterations, epigenetic changes and tumour environment all of which may contribute to the complexity of cancer multidrug resistance. Conventional cancer chemotherapy is seriously limited by tumor cells exhibiting Multidrug Resistance (MDR), caused by changes in the level or activity of membrane transporters that mediate energy-dependent drug efflux and of other proteins that affect drug metabolism and/or drug action. Identification of several mechanisms of acquired multidrug resistance has led to the development of chemosensitizing agents that counter specific mechanisms of multidrug resistance .Therefore to overcome this disappointing therapeutic failure, there are various approaches evolving to reverse or circumvent cancer multidrug resistance. These include pglycoprotein inhibitors and other drugs that target cancer multidrug resistance. This article highlights the various mechanisms of multidrug resistance and the ways with which we can combat it.

Keywords: Chemotherapeutics, multidrug resistance, genetic alterations, p-glycoprotein inhibitors.