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Compounds from Chinese herbal medicines as reversal agents for P-glycoprotein-mediated multidrug resistance in tumours

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Abstract

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a major obstacle to successful cancer chemotherapy. One of the main underlying mechanisms of this resistance is the over-expression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp), an ATP-dependent transmembrane transporter protein encoded by the MDR1 gene. P-gp might transport anti-cancer drugs out of cancer cells and decrease effective intracellular drug concentrations. An effective approach to overcome MDR is to inhibit the function of P-gp or its expression on the surface of cancer cells. Thus, application of MDR reversal agents can be seen as a potentially important means by which to overcome the clinical drug resistance of tumour cells and improve the efficacy of chemotherapy. Recently, research efforts worldwide have focused on reversal mechanisms for MDR and on the identification of reversal agents. Chinese scholars have performed a great deal of exploratory work by screening for efficacy and low toxicity in drug resistance reversal compounds. These compounds may provide more lead compounds with greater activity, leading to the development of more effective therapies for MDR cancer cells. In this review, the function and efficiency of novel compounds derived from traditional Chinese medicines are described.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by Grant No. 20110728 and No. 20130206050YY from Science and Technology Department of Jilin province and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81170632).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Beihua University, 3999 Huashan Road, Jilin, 132013, People’s Republic of China

    C. Li & X.-D. Gai

  2. Department of Neural Internal Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Beihua University, 12 Middle Jiefang Road, Jilin, 132013, People’s Republic of China

    B.-Q. Sun

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  1. C. Li
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  2. B.-Q. Sun
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Li, C., Sun, BQ. & Gai, XD. Compounds from Chinese herbal medicines as reversal agents for P-glycoprotein-mediated multidrug resistance in tumours. Clin Transl Oncol 16, 593–598 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-014-1169-7

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