Effect of metformin on breast cancer metabolism
Abstract
There is a great and growing interest in the anti-cancer effects of the diabetes drug metformin as evidenced by the 50 clinical trials worldwide investigating the role of metformin in cancer treatment that are actively recruiting patients. Metformin’s potential anti-cancer effects were first brought to light following a series of epidemiological studies showing that treatment with metformin, as opposed to other diabetes drugs, correlated with a reduction in the incidence of cancer in these patients. A subsequent retrospective clinical study of diabetic patients has suggested potential synergy with chemotherapy and several published in vitro and in vivo studies have clearly demonstrated evidence of an anti-cancer effect. However there is still not a consensus as to the mode of action by which metformin achieves this. Many in vitro studies of both cancer and non-cancer cells have shown that metformin can inhibit complex 1 of the mitochondrial respiratory transport chain and subsequently activate the energy sensing kinase, AMPK. The downstream catabolic effects subsequent to AMPK activation would be expected to be antiproliferative in nature in the cancer setting. However, it is also postulated that metformin derives its anticancer effect instead from downregulation of the 'host's' insulin axis, an indirect effect. Hence, there were 3 aims to this thesis project: to gain greater insight into its anticancer mechanism of action, to study pathways that might be targeted to…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a cohort study, done in people. Its evidence level is 3 of 5 (Moderate · trial / cohort / secondary analysis). Trials without a large randomized design, cohorts and secondary analyses give moderate evidence.
Read the paper
Related studies
- Metformin as an adjuvant in breast cancer treatment
- Metformin Lysosomal Targeting: A Novel Aspect to Be Investigated for Metformin Repurposing in Neurodegenerative Diseases?
- Aberrant HSF1 signaling activation underlies metformin amelioration of myocardial infarction in mice
- Metformin induces ZFP36 by mTORC1 inhibition in cervical cancer-derived cell lines
- Protein Interaction Network for Identifying Vascular Response of Metformin (Oral Antidiabetic)
- Preventing Long COVID With Metformin
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.