Resistance mechanisms to cancer chemotherapy
Kelly Marie Redmond1, Timothy Richard Wilson, Patrick Gerard Johnston
1Drug Resistance Laboratory, Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.
Abstract:
Resistance to chemotherapy ('drug resistance') is a fundamental problem that limits the effectiveness of many chemotherapies currently used to treat cancer. Drug resistance can occur due to a variety of mechanisms, such as increased drug inactivation, drug efflux from cancer cells, enhanced repair of chemotherapy-induced damage, activation of pro-survival pathways and inactivation of cell death pathways. In this article, we review some of the major mechanisms of drug resistance and discuss how new molecularly-targeted therapies are being increasingly used to overcome these resistance mechanisms.
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