Drug Resistance in Cancer: An Overview

Abstract

Cancers have the ability to develop resistance to traditional therapies, and the increasing prevalence of these drug resistant cancers necessitates further research and treatment development. This paper outlines the current knowledge of mechanisms that promote or enable drug resistance, such as drug inactivation, drug target alteration, drug efflux, DNA damage repair, cell death inhibition, and the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, as well as how inherent tumor cell heterogeneity plays a role in drug resistance. It also describes the epigenetic modifications that can induce drug resistance and considers how such epigenetic factors may contribute to the development of cancer progenitor cells, which are not killed by conventional cancer therapies. Lastly, this review concludes with a discussion on the best treatment options for existing drug resistant cancers, ways to prevent the formation of drug resistant cancers and cancer progenitor cells, and future directions of study.

Polydopamine‐Modified Black Phosphorous Nanocapsule with Enhanced Stability and Photothermal Performance for Tumor Multimodal Treatments

“…DOX and P‐gp siRNA were employed as model therapeutic substances. P‐gp siRNA can downregulate permeability glycoprotein (P‐gp) expressions on the cancer cell membrane, which is responsible for the P‐gp mediated multidrug resistance (MDR) 20. The drug‐loaded BP NSs were wrapped in a pH‐sensitive PDA film to improve its stability and photothermal performance.…”

Inferences of individual drug responses across diverse cancer types using a novel competing endogenous RNA network

“…Interestingly, functional enrichment analysis of DRCEs showed that the cancer‐specific DRCEs shared some metabolic and cell cycle activities known to mediate drug responses (Fig. 2E) (Housman et al ., 2014). …”

“…Performing the above analysis for the four cancers, respectively. The results revealed that although the differential genes were different in the four cancers, the functions of the DRCEs are closely associated with drug responses and sensitivity or resistance and have effects on the cell cycle, cell death, apoptosis, DNA damage, replication and repair, and drug transport (Holohan et al ., 2013; Housman et al ., 2014). The cisplatin‐associated DRCEs in at least two cancer types are shown in Fig.…”

Transcriptomic Analysis of Melanoma Cells Extracted From Different Sites of the Primary Tumor

“…The development of malignant tumor and its growth is an active evolutionary process that results in a tumor consisting of cells with heterogeneous molecular characteristics [2]. This diversity entails the development of resistance to treatment in cancer patients [3].…”