Co-administration of natural compounds and chemotherapeutic drugs could be an effective strategy to overcome tumor multidrug resistance. - GreenMedInfo Summary

The therapeutic efficacy of chemotherapy in many types of hematological malignancies and solid tumors is dramatically hindered by multidrug resistance (MDR). This work presents a combination strategy of pretreatment of MDA-MB-231/MDR1 cells with quercetin (QU) followed by doxorubicin (DOX) to overcome MDR, which can be delivered by mixed micelles composed of the reduction-sensitive hyaluronic acid-based conjugate and d-α-tocopheryl poly(ethylene glycol) 1000 succinate. The combination strategy can enhance the cytotoxicity of DOX on MDA-MB-231/MDR1 cells by increasing intracellular DOX accumulation and facilitating DOX-induced apoptosis. The probable MDR reversal mechanisms are that the pretreatment cells with QU-loaded mixed micelles downregulate P-glycoprotein expression to decrease DOX efflux as well as initiate mitochondria-dependent apoptotic pathways to accelerate DOX-induced apoptosis. In addition, this combination strategy can not only potentiatetumor-targeting efficiency but also enhance the antitumor effect in MDA-MB-231/MDR1-bearing nude mice without toxicity or side effects. This research suggests that the co-administration of natural compounds and chemotherapeutic drugs could be an effective strategy to overcome tumor MDR, which deserves further exploration.