ABSTRACT
At present, chemoresistance is one of the leading causes of chemotherapy failure but there is no effective drugs or strategies to reverse the resistance of chemotherapy. In recent years, the anticancer effect of Salvia miltiorrhiza receives wide attention of researchers. The major bioactive constituents in Sal-via miltiorrhiza can be divided into two groups: liposoluble com-ponents ( tanshinoneⅠ, tanshinoneⅡA, dihydrometanoneⅠ and cryptotanshinone, etc. ) and hydrophilic components (salvianol-ic acid A, salvianolic acid B and protocatechualdehyde, etc. ). Recent studies have found that these components not only play different anti-tumor activities, but showed significant reversal re- sistance effects on drug-resistant tumor cells. Besides, with the combination of chemotherapy drugs, they have significant attenu-ated toxicity and synergistic effect. In this paper, we summarize the researches pertaining to the effects of Salvia Miltiorrhiza on the reversal of drug resistance and chemotherapy sensitization in recent years, providing references for the development of Salvia miltiorrhiza as multidrug resistance reversal agents and its ration-al application in clinic.