Molecular mechanisms of chemo‐ and radiotherapy resistance and the potential implications for cancer treatment
Ya‐Ping Liu,
Can‐Can Zheng,
Yun‐Na Huang,
Ming‐Liang He,
Wen Wen Xu,
Bin Li
Affiliations
Ya‐Ping Liu
MOE Key Laboratory of Tumor Molecular Biology and Key Laboratory of Functional Protein Research of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes Institute of Life and Health Engineering Jinan University Guangzhou P. R. China
Can‐Can Zheng
MOE Key Laboratory of Tumor Molecular Biology and Key Laboratory of Functional Protein Research of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes Institute of Life and Health Engineering Jinan University Guangzhou P. R. China
Yun‐Na Huang
MOE Key Laboratory of Tumor Molecular Biology and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Bioengineering Medicine National Engineering Research Center of Genetic Medicine Institute of Biomedicine College of Life Science and Technology Jinan University Guangzhou P. R. China
Ming‐Liang He
Department of Biomedical Sciences City University of Hong Kong Hong Kong China
Wen Wen Xu
MOE Key Laboratory of Tumor Molecular Biology and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Bioengineering Medicine National Engineering Research Center of Genetic Medicine Institute of Biomedicine College of Life Science and Technology Jinan University Guangzhou P. R. China
Bin Li
MOE Key Laboratory of Tumor Molecular Biology and Key Laboratory of Functional Protein Research of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes Institute of Life and Health Engineering Jinan University Guangzhou P. R. China
Abstract Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. Surgery is the primary treatment approach for cancer, but the survival rate is very low due to the rapid progression of the disease and presence of local and distant metastasis at diagnosis. Adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy are important components of the multidisciplinary approaches for cancer treatment. However, resistance to radiotherapy and chemotherapy may result in treatment failure or even cancer recurrence. Radioresistance in cancer is often caused by the repair response to radiation‐induced DNA damage, cell cycle dysregulation, cancer stem cells (CSCs) resilience, and epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT). Understanding the molecular alterations that lead to radioresistance may provide new diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets to improve radiotherapy efficacy. Patients who develop resistance to chemotherapy drugs cannot benefit from the cytotoxicity induced by the prescribed drug and will likely have a poor outcome with these treatments. Chemotherapy often shows a low response rate due to various drug resistance mechanisms. This review focuses on the molecular mechanisms of radioresistance and chemoresistance in cancer and discusses recent developments in therapeutic strategies targeting chemoradiotherapy resistance to improve treatment outcomes.
