Metformin Shows Promise For Pancreatic Cancer Patients

Editor's Choice Main Category: Pancreatic Cancer Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology;Stem Cell Research Article Date: 27 Jun 2012 - 10:00 PDT

Current ratings for: Metformin Shows Promise For Pancreatic Cancer Patients

3.67 (3 votes)

In combination with the standard chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer, metformin was observed to efficiently eradicate both cancer stem cells and more differentiated cancer cells that form the bulk of the tumor. The study was presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's Pancreatic Cancer: Progress and Challenges conference in Lake Tahoe, Nev., from June 18-21, 2012 by Christopher Heeschen, M.D., Ph.D., a professor for experimental medicine at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in Madrid.

Heeschen said that the majority of clinical trials of pancreatic cancer during the last 15 years failed to demonstrate a notable improvement in the average survival, which indicates for various reasons the methods used in these trials were insufficient. However, within the last few years, scientists have discovered cancer stem cells, which contrary to the cancer cells that make up the bulk of the tumor, consist of a small subset of cells that are resistant to conventional therapy.

He continued:

The team discovered that metformin-pretreated cancer stem cells proved especially sensitive to changes to their metabolism through the activation of AMPK, as metformin killed the cancer stem cells, but only stopped the cell's growth in more differentiated cancer cells.

Heeschen explained:

Their findings were supported in an experiment with mice, in which they treated immunocompromised mice that were implanted with various sets of patient-derived tumors with a combination of metformin and the standard chemotherapeutic treatment for pancreatic cancer, gemcitabine. The results were reduced tumors and a prevention of relapse in contrast to mice treated only with metformin or with gemcitabine.

Heeschen remarked: "Intriguingly, in all tumors treated with metformin to date, relapse of disease was efficiently prevented and there were no noticeable adverse effects."

Read the original:
Metformin Shows Promise For Pancreatic Cancer Patients