Novel function of N,N-bis(2-chloroethyl)docos-13-enamide for reversal of multidrug resistance in tongue cancer.

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a key element in the failure of chemotherapies, and development of agents to overcome MDR is crucial to improving cancer treatments. The overexpression of glutathione-S-transferases (GSTs) is one of the major mechanisms of MDR. Because some agents used in traditional Chinese medicine have strong antitumor effects coupled with low toxicity; we investigated the ability of N,N-bis(2-chloroethyl)docos-13-enamide (compound J), the synthesized analog of a highly unsaturated fatty acid from Isatis tinctoria L.