General Description
Acquired resistance to chemotherapy drugs, multidrug resistance or MDR, is a major contributor to treatment failure for many types of cancers. MDR is typically associated with the increased expression of two ATP-dependent drug efflux pumps, P-Glycoprotein (P-gp or MDR1) and the Multidrug Resistance-Associated Protein (MRP1). These pumps actively expel chemotherapeutic agents, typically hydrophobic amphipathic natural products, from the cytoplasm to exterior of the cell.
This kit is utilizes a hydrophobic fluorescent dye molecule to assess MDR activity in cells. This dye rapidly penetrates cell membranes and becomes trapped resulting in an increase in fluorescence intensity (λex = 490/λem = 525 nm). In cells expressing MDR transporters, the dye is rapidly extruded by the transporters, resulting in decreased fluorescence intensity.
