Objective To review the application advancements of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter in medical research.Methods Relevant literatures about the applications of ABC families in medical research were reviewed. Results ABC families mainly took roles in transporting substances across cell membrane. Some of them were useful for the prediction of drug resistance and the prognosis of malignant tumors. Others were target s for molecular researches. Their expressions or mutations might be related with the occurrence of diseases. Conclusion ABC families are very important in the diagnosis and therapy for diseases. Thus they are very promising tools for future medical research.