Understanding Cancer Drug Resistance by Developing and Studying Resistant Cell Line Models

Despite the enormous number of anticancer drugs presently available in the clinic, treatment failure due to drug resistance is very frequent. The identification of mechanisms of resistance to different drugs is necessary, in order to identify ways to prevent and circumvent such resistance. Indeed, the identification of novel therapeutic targets to overcome cancer drug resistance remains one of the major challenges in drug discovery and development. The methods employed to identify drug resistance mechanisms and novel therapeutic targets depend greatly on the establishment of cancer drug resistant cell lines. The establishment of such drug resistant cell lines is laborious and time-consuming and various different approaches have been described. This manuscript reviews the methodologies that have been used to create cancer drug resistant cell lines and to identify their mechanisms of resistance. In addition, this review highlights the most frequent drug resistance mechanisms found in cancer cells.