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PMID: 20810670 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Review

Metformin and other biguanides in oncology: advancing the research agenda.

Cancer prevention research (Philadelphia, Pa.) ·Vol. 3 ·No. 9 ·2010-09-00 ·Pages 1060-5

Pollak M

Abstract

Retrospective studies that may be impractical to confirm prospectively suggest that diabetics treated with metformin have a substantially reduced cancer burden compared with other diabetics. It is unclear if this reflects a chemopreventive effect, an effect on transformed cells, or both. It also remains to be established if these data have relevance to people without diabetes. Laboratory models, however, provide independent impressive evidence for the activity of metformin and other biguanides in both cancer treatment and chemoprevention. Investigations of mechanisms of action of biguanides have revealed considerable complexity and have identified important gaps in knowledge that should be addressed to ensure the optimal design of clinical trials of these agents. Such trials may define important new indications for biguanides in the prevention and/or treatment of many common cancers.

MeSH Terms
Animals Antineoplastic Agents/chemistry,therapeutic use Biguanides/pharmacology,therapeutic use Biomedical Research/trends Humans Hypoglycemic Agents/pharmacology,therapeutic use Medical Oncology/trends Metformin/pharmacology,therapeutic use Neoplasms/drug therapy
Chemicals
Antineoplastic Agents Biguanides Hypoglycemic Agents Metformin
Authors & Affiliations
1 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Pollak Michael
3755 Cote-Ste.-Catherine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3T 1E2. michael.pollak@mcgill.ca
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Article Info
Journal
Cancer prevention research (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Abbr.
Cancer Prev Res (Phila)
ISSN
1940-6215
DOI
10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-10-0175
Email
michael.pollak@mcgill.ca
Published
2010-09-00
Epub
2010-00-01
Pages
1060-5
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
101479409
PMCID
PMC2954412
Subset
IM
Grants
NCI NIH HHS · R01 CA101008-01 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-10-0175 PMC Full Text View journal details
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