Springer Resistance to Targeted ABC Transporters in Cancer: 4 (Resistance to Targeted Anti-Cancer Therapeutics)

This critical review volume explores the theme of ABC transporters in the context of basic cancer research and its role in drug-resistant tumors. The chapters provided complement basic research by including investigations from translational applications to clinical oncology. The development of resistance is a major obstacle in cancer chemotherapy and the field has been moving rapidly in terms of determining the mechanisms for blocking ABC transporter-mediated drug efflux by specific inhibitors and thereby overcoming multidrug resistance. The volume covers these issues in careful detail. Additional topics include the relevance of ABC transporters in resistance to novel and established anticancer drugs and prognosis of patients to compounds, compounds used in photodynamic therapy, tyrosine kinase inhibitors and others. Furthermore, the potential of radiopharmaceuticals for diagnosis of multidrug-resistant tumors and of nanotechnology to combat drug-resistant tumors is also discussed. From the Back Cover This volume covers the most current topics relevant to ABC transporters and resistance to novel and established anticancer drugs, prognosis of patients to compounds to modulate multidrug resistance, compounds used in photodynamic therapy, tyrosine kinase inhibitors and others. Furthermore, the potential of radiopharmaceuticals for diagnosis of multidrug-resistant tumors is also discussed. The development of resistance is a major obstacle in cancer chemotherapy since decades. Drug resistance may develop during repeated treatment cycles after initially successful therapy (acquired or secondary resistance). Alternatively, tumors may be resistant from the beginning (inherent or primary resistance). The failure of chemotherapy is a major reason for the fatal outcome of tumor diseases in many patients. Even worse, tumors frequently develop not only resistance to single drugs, but also to many others at the same time. This phenomenon was termed multidrug resistance and decreases the success rates of therapy regimens with combinations of structurally and functionally different drugs. The uncommonly broad spectrum of anticancer agents that are transported by ABC transporters makes these proteins exquisite targets to search for compounds that inhibit their transport function. A huge amount of compounds from many pharmacologically established drug were observed to inhibit ABC transporters and to reverse multidrug resistance―all of these topics and more is explored in this volume. About the Author Thomas Efferth, Ph.D., is a full Professor and Chair of Pharmaceutical Biology at the University of Mainz in Germany. Dr. Efferth is an expert on ABC transporters and has given over 130 lectures at international conferences. Dr. Efferth has received over 6,000 citations in his career. In addition, Dr. Efferth is on the Editorial Board of 26 journals, including the International Journal of Oncology, Cancer Genomics and Proteomics, Current Medicinal Chemistry, Frontiers in Pharmacology, to name a few. He's also a scientific advisory board member of several institutions, including the German Pharmaceutical Society and the International Institute of Anticancer Research.