Cancers 2014, 6, 1925-1952; doi:10.3390/cancers6041925 OPEN ACCESS cancers ISSN 2072-6694 www.mdpi.com/journal/cancers Review Repositioning of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors as Antagonists of ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters in Anticancer Drug Resistance Yi-Jun Wang, Yun-Kai Zhang, Rishil J. Kathawala and Zhe-Sheng Chen * Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, St. John’s University, Queens, NY 11439, USA; E-Mails:
[email protected] (Y.-J.W.);
[email protected] (Y.-K.Z.);
[email protected] (R.J.K.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +1-718-990-1432; Fax: +1-718-990-1877. Received: 31 July 2014; in revised form: 4 September 2014 / Accepted: 11 September 2014 / Published: 29 September 2014 Abstract: The phenomenon of multidrug resistance (MDR) has attenuated the efficacy of anticancer drugs and the possibility of successful cancer chemotherapy. ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters play an essential role in mediating MDR in cancer cells by increasing efflux of drugs from cancer cells, hence reducing the intracellular accumulation of chemotherapeutic drugs. Interestingly, small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), such as AST1306, lapatinib, linsitinib, masitinib, motesanib, nilotinib, telatinib and WHI-P154, have been found to have the capability to overcome anticancer drug resistance by inhibiting ABC transporters in recent years. This review will focus on some of the latest and clinical developments with ABC transporters, TKIs and anticancer drug resistance. Keywords: multidrug resistance; ABC transporters; tyrosine kinase inhibitor; clinical relevance; pharmacogenomics 1. Introduction Cancer, also known as malignant neoplasm or tumor, is the second most leading cause of death after cardiovascular diseases in United States and developing countries.