Assessing the anticancer effects of Metformin

Metformin is an anti-hyperglycemic biguanide drug that is widely used as the first-line prescription for managing type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). Research suggests metformin use helps control T2DM which is one of the many risk factors for cancer and is proposed to have multiple antagonistic actions against cancer cells. Suggested biological means that metformin utilizes include AMPK-driven cascades involving two pathways, a direct and an indirect one. This leads to a decrease in the mechanistic activity of rapamycin (mTOR), folate level, c-MYC, NF-B, and also increases P53 phosphorylation. These cascades will also decrease cyclin D1, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and increase mTOR Complex1 (mTORC1) concentrations, apoptosis, and autophagy. Some researchers suggest metformin also exerts anti-inflammatory effects through reducing Interleukins-6 (IL6) and 8 (IL8), inhibition of protein translation via LKB1, increasing expression of GPD1 which suppresses cancer by inhibiting mitochondria ...