Erratum to: ABC Transporter Modulatory Drugs from Marine Sources: A New Approach to Overcome Drug Resistance in Cancer

Fighting this unconquerable mammoth of a disease that is cancer has been increasingly difficult from its discovery over a century ago. A multitude of agents have been identified in the past to conquer the battle against cancer. Nevertheless, controlling it from its onset has been very difficult, the reason being its ability to evade the toxic insults, and to develop mechanisms to survive in the presence of cancer drugs. Of the several factors responsible, the phenomenon of multidrug resistance (MDR) has contributed essentially for the cancerous cells to survive. This phenomenon is characterized by the ability to impart immunity to several classes of drugs with different structural and mechanistic traits. The association of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) efflux transporters with the development of MDR has been a major impediment toward attaining an efficient chemotherapeutic outcome in cancer patients. Overcoming this pathway of resistance with the use of modulators to block the drug efflux transporters has shown some promise in recent years. However, there is still room for improvement in designing the clinical strategy and developing newer agents to overcome MDR. Nature has provided researchers amazing treatment options in the past for numerous diseases. Hence, it is now time to look into nature and find answers to effectively modulate the function of ABC drug transporters to overcome resistance to anticancer drugs. Here we discuss some lead molecules isolated from marine organisms that have shown promising results in overcoming MDR associated with ABC transporters.