Abstract

Cancer has posed a great challenge to its victims all over the world. Researchers have developed several measures to combat this problem. However, it has been discovered that the major hindrance to breakthrough in this field is that cancer cells are able to resist treatment. A large pool of information was retrieved from several reputable articles most especially the recently published ones. In this review, some of the mechanisms adopted by these cells to confer resistance to treatment will be discussed. These mechanisms include drug efflux via ABC transporters, deregulation of cell death mechanisms, modification of drug targets and repair of damaged DNA. The possible means to overcome this resistance are also reviewed.

Keywords

cancer, serious menace, human life, drug targets, mortality rate, cancer therapies, chemotherapy, drug resistance, antitumor drugs, ABC transporters, blood-brain barrier, efflux of drugs, nanoparticles, autophagy, apoptosis