Progress in the study of the mechanism of drug resistance in gastrointestinal stromal tumors

Abstract

gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are one of the most common malignant tumors of digestive tract, and are resistant to cytotoxic radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have been used as a miracle drug for clinical treatment. However, the drug resistance has limited its clinical application. With the continuous deepening understanding of the relevant mechanisms, novel therapeutic agents are emerging. Therefore, fundamental studies on the pathogenesis of gastrointestinal stromal tumor are essential for the discovery of novel therapeutic approaches. At present, there are at least three models which are widely applied in the basic research of the pathogenesis of tumor, which are the homologous resistant/sensitive cell line model, the tumor transplanted mouse model, and the human tumor specimen. In this paper, we review the literature on the research methods of gastrointestinal stromal tumor resistance mechanism, and summarize the related research methods and the main mechanisms of drug resistance. Key words: Tumor cell line; Gastrointestinal stromal tumors; Drug resistance; Xenograft model; Human tumor specimen