Abstract

Multi-drug resistance (MDR) to cancer chemotherapy is a major obstacle to the effective treatment of tumors. Resveratrol, a natural product, may inhibit efflux transporters, such as P-glycoprotein (P-gp), multi-drug resistance-associated protein (MRP) and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP), and could become a potential multi-drug-resistant regulator. But it remains unclear how resveratrol exerts its reversal effect. In this review, we attempt to reveal the interactions between resveratrol and ABC transporter proteins, and summarize the research profile of resveratrol’s reversal mechanisms, thus to provide pivotal information on the development and application of multi-drug resistance reversal agents.

Keywords: ATP binding cassette transporters, breast cancer resistance protein, multi-drug resistance, multi-drug resistance associated protein, P-glycoprotein, resveratrol.