Role of Glutathione in the Multidrug Resistance in Cancer

Abstract

Summary Multidrug resistance is the main problem in anticancer therapy. Cancer cells use many defense strategies in order to survive chemotherapy. Among known multidrug resistance mechanisms the most important are: drug detoxification inside the cell using II phase detoxifying enzymes and active transport of the drug to the extracellular environment. Cancer cells may be also less sensitive to proapoptotic signals and have different intracellular drug distribution, which makes them more resistant to anticancer drugs. Role of glutathione in multidrug resistance is the object of interest of many scientists, however, defining it’s function in these processes still remains a challenge. In this paper, properties of glutathione and it’s role in multidrug resistance in cancer cells were described.