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Review
. 2022 Jul 20;14(14):3524.
doi: 10.3390/cancers14143524.

Expression of Chemoresistance-Associated ABC Proteins in Hepatobiliary, Pancreatic and Gastrointestinal Cancers

Jose J G Marin  1   2 , Maria J Monte  1   2 , Rocio I R Macias  1   2 , Marta R Romero  1   2 , Elisa Herraez  1   2 , Maitane Asensio  1   2 , Sara Ortiz-Rivero  1   2 , Candela Cives-Losada  1 , Silvia Di Giacomo  3 , Javier Gonzalez-Gallego  2   4 , Jose L Mauriz  2   4 , Thomas Efferth  5 , Oscar Briz  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Expression of Chemoresistance-Associated ABC Proteins in Hepatobiliary, Pancreatic and Gastrointestinal Cancers

Jose J G Marin et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

Hepatobiliary, pancreatic, and gastrointestinal cancers account for 36% of the ten million deaths caused by cancer worldwide every year. The two main reasons for this high mortality are their late diagnosis and their high refractoriness to pharmacological treatments, regardless of whether these are based on classical chemotherapeutic agents, targeted drugs, or newer immunomodulators. Mechanisms of chemoresistance (MOC) defining the multidrug resistance (MDR) phenotype of each tumor depend on the synergic function of proteins encoded by more than one hundred genes classified into seven groups (MOC1-7). Among them, the efflux of active agents from cancer cells across the plasma membrane caused by members of the superfamily of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) proteins (MOC-1b) plays a crucial role in determining tumor MDR. Although seven families of human ABC proteins are known, only a few pumps (mainly MDR1, MRP1-6, and BCRP) have been associated with reducing drug content and hence inducing chemoresistance in hepatobiliary, pancreatic, and gastrointestinal cancer cells. The present descriptive review, which compiles the updated information on the expression of these ABC proteins, will be helpful because there is still some confusion on the actual relevance of these pumps in response to pharmacological regimens currently used in treating these cancers. Moreover, we aim to define the MOC pattern on a tumor-by-tumor basis, even in a dynamic way, because it can vary during tumor progression and in response to chemotherapy. This information is indispensable for developing novel strategies for sensitization.

Keywords: ATP-binding cassette protein; anticancer drug; drug refractoriness; multidrug resistance; transport.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Expression pattern of ABC proteins involved in chemoresistance of liver and gastrointestinal cancers. HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; BTC, biliary tract cancer; HB, hepatoblastoma; GAC, gastric adenocarcinoma; PDAC, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma; CRC, colorectal carcinoma.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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