Identification of P-glycoprotein mutations causing a loss of steroid recognition and transport. Profound differences in the transport of steroids by two mouse p-glycoproteins. Josh Bernd and Miranda King.
Cancer cells can develop a resistance to drugs that are commonly used in chemotherapy.
To inhibit this behavior and avoid the appearance of resistant tumor cells in cancer patients, combinations of unrelated drugs are often employed in clinical situations. However, as effective as combination chemotherapy is, simultaneous resistance to two or more agents can still develop. Multidrug resistance can be caused by several different mechanisms. P-glycoproteins span the plasma membrane and are capable of transporting drugs out of cells, thus lowering the intracellular drug concentrations to non toxic levels. To address this issue, we have chosen to study the interaction between P-glycoproteins and steroids.