Screening dietary flavonoids for the reversal of P-glycoprotein-mediated multidrug resistance in cancer

Mol Biosyst. 2016 Jul 19;12(8):2458-70. doi: 10.1039/c6mb00187d.

Abstract

P-Glycoprotein (P-gp) serves as a therapeutic target for the development of inhibitors to overcome multidrug resistance in cancer cells. Although various screening procedures have been practiced so far to develop first three generations of P-gp inhibitors, their toxicity and drug interaction profiles are still a matter of concern. To address the above important problem of developing safe and effective P-gp inhibitors, we have made systematic computational and experimental studies on the interaction of natural phytochemicals with human P-gp. Molecular docking and QSAR studies were carried out for 40 dietary phytochemicals in the drug-binding site of the transmembrane domains (TMDs) of P-gp. Dietary flavonoids exhibit better interactions with homology modeled human P-gp. Based on the computational analysis, selected flavonoids were tested for their inhibitory potential against P-gp transport function in drug resistant cell lines using calcein-AM and rhodamine 123 efflux assays. It has been found that quercetin and rutin were the highly desirable flavonoids for the inhibition of P-gp transport function and they significantly reduced resistance in cytotoxicity assays to paclitaxel in P-gp overexpressing MDR cell lines. Hence, quercetin and rutin may be considered as potential chemosensitizing agents to overcome multidrug resistance in cancer.

MeSH terms

  • ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Member 1 / antagonists & inhibitors
  • ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Member 1 / chemistry
  • ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Member 1 / genetics*
  • ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Member 1 / metabolism
  • Antineoplastic Agents / chemistry
  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology*
  • Binding Sites
  • Catalytic Domain
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Computer Simulation
  • Dietary Supplements*
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
  • Drug Resistance, Neoplasm / genetics*
  • Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor
  • Flavonoids / chemistry
  • Flavonoids / pharmacology*
  • Humans
  • Ligands
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Docking Simulation
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Conformation
  • Structure-Activity Relationship

Substances

  • ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Member 1
  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Flavonoids
  • Ligands