APMIS, cilt.116, sa.9, ss.791-800, 2008 (SCI-Expanded)
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-I (multidrug resistance associated protein I), 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-I 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.