Tumor cells may develop multidrug resistance (MDR) to various chemotherapy regimens. Such resistance reduces the sensitivity of cells to chemotherapy drugs, leading to the failure of cervical cancer (CC) treatment and disease progression. The present study aimed to investigate the role of MDR1, lung resistance protein (LRP) and placental glutathione S‑transferase π 1 (GSTP1) in CC and MDR, and the prognostic value of these genes. The mRNA expression levels of these resistance‑associated genes were determined in 47 CC and 20 healthy cervical tissue samples. Subsequently, the data was analyzed alongside clinicopathological parameters. The mRNA expression levels of MDR1, LRP and GSTP1 in CC were 0.57±0.32, 0.58±0.29 and 0.44±0.24, respectively, whereas those in healthy cervical tissues were 0.19±0.10, 0.17±0.14 and 0.18±0.10, respectively. Therefore, the expression levels of these genes were significantly greater in CC compared with healthy cervical tissue (P<0.05). mRNA expression levels of MRD1 were increased in the well differentiated group (0.68±0.27) compared with the poorly differentiated group (0.38±0.33; P<0.05). No significant differences were observed between LRP and GSTP1 mRNA expression levels and tumor differentiation or clinical stage of the patients (P>0.05). Multivariate logistic regression indicated that the degree of differentiation and the MDR1 gene expression levels were predictors of CC prognosis (P<0.05). The survival rate of patients in the MDR1‑negative group was significantly greater compared with the MDR1‑positive group (P<0.05). The results of the present study therefore suggested that MDR1 gene expression is a predictor of poor survival in CC.