Drug Resistance Against Cancer Treatment

A special issue of Pharmaceuticals (ISSN 1424-8247). This special issue belongs to the section "Pharmacology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 July 2025 | Viewed by 1904

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Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chapman University School of Pharmacy, Harry and Diane Rinker Health Science Campus, Irvine, CA 92618, USA
Interests: pharmaceutics; targeted delivery; RNA interference; cancer biology; signaling pathways
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Dear Colleagues,

In the era when chemotherapy was the only option for “drug” therapy in cancer treatment, multidrug resistance (MDR) was a major hurdle that could suddenly render even the most effective treatments obsolete. In fact, MDR seemed to be so inevitable that it was known as a matter of “when”, rather than a matter of “if”. Chemotherapy is still at the forefront of cancer treatment, even following the introduction of molecularly targeted small molecule drugs, and therefore, the battle with MDR continues. While mechanisms involved in MDR might not apply to molecularly targeted drugs, the resistance to these drugs is also an ever-present threat. However, just like the drug itself, the resistance mechanisms (inherent or acquired) are more specific, often relating to the same signaling pathway that is the target of the drug.

This Special Issue aims to include research and review papers that provide the most recent information and developments on the ongoing battle with resistance against cancer treatment. The scope of the issue is to cover both MDR and resistance against molecularly targeted drugs. Our hope is to bring together a collective wisdom regarding our approach to drug resistance in cancer.

Dr. Hamidreza Montazeri Aliabadi
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • multidrug resistance (MDR)
  • chemotherapy
  • P-glycoprotein (P-gp)
  • ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters
  • molecularly targeted drugs
  • inherent resistance
  • acquired resistance
  • signaling pathways

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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29 pages, 3627 KiB  
Systematic Review
Revisiting ABC Transporters and Their Clinical Significance in Glioblastoma
by Brandon Wee Siang Phon, Shalini Sundramurthi Chelliah, Dina El-Rabie Osman, Saatheeyavaane Bhuvanendran, Ammu Kutty Radhakrishnan and Muhamad Noor Alfarizal Kamarudin
Pharmaceuticals 2025, 18(1), 102; https://doi.org/10.3390/ph18010102 - 15 Jan 2025
Viewed by 1270
Abstract
Background: The multiple drug-resistant phenomenon has long since plagued the effectiveness of various chemotherapies used in the treatment of patients with glioblastoma (GBM), which is still incurable to this day. ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters function as drug transporters and have been touted [...] Read more.
Background: The multiple drug-resistant phenomenon has long since plagued the effectiveness of various chemotherapies used in the treatment of patients with glioblastoma (GBM), which is still incurable to this day. ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters function as drug transporters and have been touted to be the main culprits in developing resistance to xenobiotic drugs in GBM. Methods: This review systematically analyzed the efficacy of ABC transporters against various anticancer drugs from 16 studies identified from five databases (PubMed, Medline, Embase, Scopus, and ScienceDirect). Results: Inhibition of ABC transporters, especially ABCB1, improved drug efficacies. Staple GBM phenotypes, such as GBM stem cells and increased activation of the PI3K/Akt/NF-κB pathway, have been implicated in the expression of several ABC transporters. Using the datasets in The Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus, we found upregulated ABC transporters that either negatively impacted survival in univariate analyses (ABCA1, ABCA13, ABCB9, ABCD4) or were independent negative prognosis factors for patients with GBM (ABCA13, ABCB9). Our multivariate analysis further demonstrated three ABC transporters, ABCA13 (Hazard Ratio (HR) = 1.31, p = 0.017), ABCB9 (HR = 1.26, p = 0.03), and ABCB5 (HR = 0.77, p = 0.016), with the administration of alkylating agents (HR = 0.41, p < 0.001), were independent negative prognosis factors for patients with GBM. Conclusions: These findings reinforce the important role played by ABC transporters, particularly by ABCA13, ABCB9, and ABCB1, which could be potential targets that warrant further evaluations for alternate strategies to augment the effects of existing alkylating agents and xenobiotic drugs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drug Resistance Against Cancer Treatment)
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