¹MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, Hammersmith Hospital Campus, Du Cane Road, London W12 0NN, UK

Correspondence: Dr E Yagüe, E-mail: ernesto.yague@csc.mrc.ac.uk

Received 6 June 2005; Revised 19 September 2005; Accepted 19 September 2005; Published online 18 October 2005.

Abstract

Cancer Research UK has recently sponsored a meeting, organized by the UK Medical Research Council, on cancer drug resistance. Several of the molecular mechanisms responsible for this clinical outcome, such as DNA interstrand crosslink repair, apoptosis evasion, cytochrome P450 and P-glycoprotein, were discussed. There was a special focus on leukaemia, breast and ovarian cancer, and the potential use of positron-emission tomography to study anticancer-drug resistance. The progress made in translating these findings to the clinic, like Gefitinib, P-glycoprotein phenotyping, or genome-wide analysis technology, was also discussed.