Figure 2.

Schematic representation of nanoparticle-based drug delivery mechanism in drug-resistant breast cancer cells. The most common mechanism of drug efflux in cancer cells is mediated by ABC transporters P-glycoprotein, BCRP, and ABCG2. Multidrug resistance protein consisting of nuclear-binding domain and transmembrane domain binds to the receptors on the surface of target tumor cells and functions in efflux of chemotherapeutic drugs such as taxol and anthracycline. However, delivery approaches using targeted drug nanocarriers (dendrimers, liposomes, micelles, polysomes) overcome the chemoresistance in tumor cells by activation of proapoptotic mediators, resulting in cell death.

Abbreviation: ABC, ATP-binding cassette.