Non-alkaloids extract from Stemona sessilifolia enhances the activity of chemotherapeutic agents through P-glycoprotein-mediated multidrug-resistant cancer cells

One of the major impediments to the successful treatment of cancer is the development of resistant cancer cells, which could cause multidrug resistance (MDR), and overexpression of ABCB1/P-glycoprotein (P-gp) is one of the most common causes of MDR in cancer cells. Recently, natural products or plant-derived chemicals have been investigated more and more widely as potential multidrug-resistant (MDR) reversing agents. The current study demonstrated for the first time that non-alkaloids extract from Stemona sessilifolia significantly reversed the resistance of chemotherapeutic agents, adriamycin, paclitaxel and vincristine to MCF-7/ADR cells compared with MCF-7/S cells in a dose-dependent manner. The results obtained from these studies indicated that the non-alkaloids extract from S. sessilifolia plays an important role in reversing MDR of cancer as a P-gp modulator in vitro and may be effective in the treatment of multidrug-resistant cancers.