Calcium bursts kill drug-resistant tumor cells

(American Chemical Society) Multidrug resistance (MDR) -- a process in which tumors become resistant to multiple medicines -- is the main cause of failure of cancer chemotherapy. Tumor cells often acquire MDR by boosting their production of proteins that pump drugs out of the cell, rendering the chemotherapies ineffective. Now, researchers reporting in ACS'Nano Letters have developed nanoparticles that release bursts of calcium inside tumor cells, inhibiting drug pumps and reversing MDR.
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news