Cancer Management and Research (Sep 2020)
Preventative and Therapeutic Effects of Metformin in Gastric Cancer: A New Contribution of an Old Friend
Abstract
Jing Zhang, Liping Wen, Quan Zhou, Kuifeng He, Lisong Teng Department of Surgical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Lisong TengDepartment of Surgical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, 79 Qingchun Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310003, People’s Republic of ChinaTel/ Fax +86-571-87236881Email [email protected]: Gastric cancer (GC) is a cancer with high prevalence, and is one of the leading causes of cancer death worldwide. Metformin is a widely used hypoglycemic agent for type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Recently, metformin has drawn increasing attention in the field of cancer research for its emerging anti-cancer roles. However, the efficacy and underlying molecular mechanisms of metformin in the prevention and treatment for GC remain controversial. This review summarized the present clinical and mechanistic studies that investigated the efficacy of metformin in GC. It was found that the majority of clinical studies affirmed protective roles of metformin in both gastric cancer risk and survival rate. In addition, metformin’s effects in the prevention and treatment for GC involve multiple pathways mainly via AMPK and IGF-1R. It was concluded that metformin presents a unique opportunity for application against GC, but further clinical and mechanistic investigations are required to solidify the roles of metformin in GC.Keywords: gastric cancer, metformin, AMPK, anti-tumor
