Researchers use calcium-releasing nanoparticles to tackle multi-drug resistance

Researchers from Zhengzhou University (China) have published research in Nano Letters describing a simple – but effective – method of deploying an overload of calcium ions to reverse multi-drug resistance in tumor cells. Multi-drug resistance is the main cause of chemotherapy failure in cancer treatment. A pump called P-glycoprotein in cell membranes is a common player in multi-drug resistance, as the transmembrane protein uses ATP to remove chemotherapeutics from cancer cells. Attempts to block P-glycoprotein have used inhibitors or attempted to reduce the available ATP, however, these strategies have proven unstable in vivo or caused side effects. Based on previous...