Abstract

Cancer chemotherapy is considered to be an effective strategy to delay the occurrence, development and recurrence of tumors. However, multi-drug resistance is the main cause of treatment failure and recurrence in tumor patients, and the primary limiting factor for tumor cure. It is clinically pointed out that drug combination chemotherapy can improve the success rate of chemotherapy, but about 50 % of tumor cells are still resistant to drugs, which leads to chemotherapy failure. The mechanism of drug resistance to traditional chemotherapy drugs, targeted therapy drugs and immunotherapy drugs is complex. Reversing chemotherapy drug resistance and mastering the mechanism of drug resistance are challenges in cancer research. To solve the problem of multi-drug resistance in tumors and improve the efficiency of chemotherapy better, this paper reviews the potential pharmacological mechanism and research progress of natural active ingredients (including alkaloids, flavonoids, sesquiterpenoids, diterpenoids, triterpenoids, coumarins, lignans and natural biarylpolyphenols, etc.) in reversing chemotherapy drug resistance based on available relevant literature.