Nanomedicine to overcome cancer multidrug resistance.

Cancer is still considered to be one of the most severe diseases so far. Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a major obstacle against curative cancer chemotherapy. The over-expression of drug efflux pumps in cellular membrane plays a critical role in preventing cancer cells from conventional chemotherapy. Nanotechnology is emerging as a class of therapeutics for MDR. This review mainly focuses on some pivotal strategies to combat MDR, including the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect, stealth nanoparticles to prolong circulation time, endosomal escape, active drug delivery, stimuli sensitive drug release, and targeted co-delivery of different compounds. While convinced challenges need combatting, large numbers of preclinical studies strongly suggest that nanomedicine formations have potential application for improving the treatment of MDR.