Metformin Has a Positive Therapeutic Effect on Prostate Cancer in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Prostate cancer and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) are both common diseases found in the elderly male population. The diabetic drug, metformin, has been shown to have antineoplastic properties and demonstrated better treatment outcomes when used as adjuvant therapy in patients with breast cancer. The hormonally-sensitive cancer analogous to breast cancer in men is prostate cancer. We investigated improved survival, lower risks of recurrences, and lower, more stable levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in patients with DM2 along with prostate cancer on metformin.
METHODS: Patients with prostate cancer along with DM2 who remained on metformin were compared with controls who were not on metformin matched by age, weight, race and Gleason score cancer staging. The endpoints of our study included final PSA values, number of recurrences, metastases and number living for each group.
RESULTS: There were significantly fewer deaths (23% versus 10%), fewer recurrences (15% versus 8%), fewer metastases (5% versus 0%) and fewer secondary cancers (17% versus 6%) in the metformin group (P < 0.004). The final PSA value was lower in the metformin-treated group with a result approaching significance (P = 0.067). The primary treatments for prostate cancer (ie, surgery, radiation and androgen depletion) were found to be comparable in both the groups.
CONCLUSIONS: Our retrospective study shows that adjuvant metformin therapy leads to a better prognosis in prostate cancer. Not only…
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.