| Abstract: | Multidrug resistance (MDR) is defined as resistance of tumor cells to a wide spectrum of structurally and functionally unrelated drugs. One of the most important mechanisms in mediating MDR is that involving cellular drug efflux transporters. Drug resistance is a common and formidable obstacle to therapy in mature T/NK‐cell lymphomas and the MDR phenotype is thought to be one of the contributing mechanisms. In this study we assessed the immunohistochemical expression of P‐gp (P‐glycoprotein), MRP‐1 (multidrug resistance associated protein 1), BCRP (breast cancer resistance protein) and LRP (lung resistance protein) in 45 mature T/NK‐cell lymphomas diagnosed at our hospital. We detected P‐gp expression in 31% (13/42), MRP‐1 expression in 74% (31/42), BCRP in 78% (32/ 41) and LRP in 59% (26/44) of the cases. These findings show that our T/NK‐cell lymphoma cases display high frequency of MDR protein expression. |
