Resistance of cancer cells to chemotherapeutics and emerging targeted drugs is a
devastating problem in the treatment of cancer patients. Multiple mechanisms contribute to
drug resistance such as increased drug efflux, altered drug metabolism, secondary
mutations in drug targets, and activation of downstream or parallel signal transduction
pathways. The rapid kinetics, the reversibility of acquired drug resistance and the absence of
genetic mutations suggest an epigenetic basis for drug insensitivity. Similar to the cellular …