Role of metformin in radiotherapy and chemotherapy

There are several published reports showing antidiabetic agent metformin prevents the development of cancer and has an important role in the treatment of cancer. According to the recent studies, metformin is reported to enhance the effect of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, especially in cancer related to diabetes. But it is difficult to analyze the initiation of treatment as it has been recently started to be investigated. There is a need for prospective studies to investigate the efficacy and / or safety of metformin in combination with radiotherapy and chemotherapy in cancer treatment and in cancer patients.

PDF

___

Ki YJ, Kim HJ, Kim MS, et al. Association between Metformin Use and Survival in Nonmetastatic Rectal Cancer Treated with a Curative Resection: A Nationwide Population Study. Cancer Res Treat. 2016 Jul 4 [Epub ahead of print]

Koritzinsky M. Metformin: A Novel Biological Modifier of Tumor Response to Radiation Therapy. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2015;93:454-64.

Jiralerspong S, Palla SL, Giordano SH, et al. Metformin and pathologic complete responses to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in diabetic patients with breast cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2009;27:3297–302.

Ji-Won Jung, Sang-Bum Park, Soo-Jin Lee, et al. Trosko, Kyung-Sun Kang. Metformin Represses Self-Renewal of the Human Breast Carcinoma Stem Cells via Inhibition of Estrogen Receptor-Mediated OCT4 Expression. PLoS ONE, 2011;6:e28068

Alimova IN, Liu B, Fan Z, et al. Metformin inhibits breast cancer cell growth, colony formation and induces cell cycle arrest in vitro. Cell cycle. 2009;8:909–15.

Sanli T, Rashid A, Liu C, Harding S, et al. Ionizing radiation activates AMPactivated kinase (AMPK): a target for radiosensitization of human cancer cells. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2010;78:221-9.

Wang J, Xia S, Zhu Z. Synergistic effect of phenformin in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) ionizing radiation treatment. Cell Biochem Biophys. 201571:513-8.

Shell SA, Lyass L, Trusk PB, et al. Activation of AMPK is necessary for killing cancer cells and sparing cardiac cells. Cell Cycle. 2008;7:1769–75.