Chalcone derivatives and their activities against drug-resistant cancers: An overview.

Drug resistance including multidrug resistance resulting from different defensive mechanisms in cancer cells is the leading cause of the failure about the cancer therapy, making it an urgent need to develop more effective anticancer agents. Chalcones, widely distributed in nature, could act on diverse enzymes and receptors in cancer cells. Accordingly, chalcone derivatives possess potential activity against various cancers including drug-resistant even multidrug-resistant cancer. This review outlines the recent development of chalcone derivatives with potential activity against drug-resistant cancers covering articles published between 2010 and 2020, so as to facilitate further rational design of more effective candidate.