THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TUMOR EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX IN DRUG RESISTANCE – CHARACTERISTICS OF SELECTED COMPONENTS OF THE MATRIX

Abstract

The phenomenon of drug resistance has been one of the biggest challenges in oncology for many years. Cancer cells develop mechanisms that limit the effectiveness of treatment, affecting the survival rate of cancer patients. Most of those mechanisms are based on higher expression of transmembrane proteins that pump the drug out of the cancer cell. Currently, researchers are focusing more on the interaction between tumor cell and their microenvironment, and the direct involvement of the extracellular matrix in resistance. Many scientific studies have shown that increasing the expression of individual components of the extracellular matrix can limit the availability of the drug to cancer cells. Other mechanisms have also been reported where some drugs become directly bound to individual components of the matrix. Furthermore, cancer cells, by interacting with matrix components, activate transcriptional signals that generate resistance mechanisms. This paper is a review of the knowledge on the participation of selected components of the neoplastic extracellular matrix in the phenomenon of drug resistance. This is a very important issue because a better understanding of this mechanism offers the possibility of developing new therapies that could improve the lives of cancer patients and potentially lead to a cured.