This critical review volume explores the theme of ABC transporters in the context of basic cancer research and its role in drug-resistant tumors. The chapters provided complement basic research by including investigations from translational applications to clinical oncology. The development of resistance is a major obstacle in cancer chemotherapy and the field has been moving rapidly in terms of determining the mechanisms for blocking ABC transporter-mediated drug efflux by specific inhibitors and thereby overcoming multidrug resistance. The volume covers these issues in careful detail. Additional topics include the relevance of ABC transporters in resistance to novel and established anticancer drugs and prognosis of patients to compounds, compounds used in photodynamic therapy, tyrosine kinase inhibitors and others. Furthermore, the potential of radiopharmaceuticals for diagnosis of multidrug-resistant tumors and of nanotechnology to combat drug-resistant tumors is also discussed.

Thomas Efferth, Ph.D., is a full Professor and Chair of Pharmaceutical Biology at the University of Mainz in Germany. Dr. Efferth is an expert on ABC transporters and has given over 130 lectures at international conferences. Dr. Efferth has received over 6,000 citations in his career. In addition, Dr. Efferth is on the Editorial Board of 26 journals, including the International Journal of Oncology, Cancer Genomics and Proteomics, Current Medicinal Chemistry, Frontiers in Pharmacology, to name a few. He's also a scientific advisory board member of several institutions, including the German Pharmaceutical Society and the International Institute of Anticancer Research.

Role of P-glycoprotein for resistance of tumors to anticancer drugs: From bench to bedside.- Clinical relevance of multidrug-resistance-related proteins (MRPs) for anticancer drug resistance and prognosis.- Role of Breast Cancer Resistance Protein (BCRP, ABCG2) in Cancer Outcomes and Drug Resistance.- A new strategy of ALA-photodynamic cancer therapy: Inhibition of ABC transporter ABCG2.- ABC transporters in cancer stem-like cells.- Radiopharmaceuticals for the imaging of ABC-transporter-mediated multidrug resistance in cancer.- Modulation of P-glycoprotein-mediated multidrug resistance by synthetic and phytochemical small molecules, monoclonal antibodies and therapeutic nucleic acids.- ABC transporter modulatory drugs from marine sources: A new approach to overcome drug resistance in cancer.- The role of ABC multidrug transporters in resistance to targeted anti-cancer kinase inhibitors.- Nanotechnology to combat multidrug resistance in cancer.- Drugs affecting epigenetic modifications of ABC transporters.