ReviewBiomolecules2019
Metformin: The Answer to Cancer in a Flower? Current Knowledge and Future Prospects of Metformin as an Anti-Cancer Agent in Breast Cancer.
Review in Biomolecules, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
48 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 81 citations in OpenAlex.
- Metformin, the Rise of a New Medical Therapy for Endometriosis? A Systematic Review of the Literature.Frontiers in medicine · 2021Pooled it
- A randomized controlled trial of metformin in women with components of metabolic syndrome: intervention feasibility and effects on adiposity and breast density.Breast cancer research and treatment · 2021Trial
- LEP and FOXO1 genes, as a proposed tumor suppressor autophagic cell death related genes, can be targeted by antidiabetic therapy in nondiabetic breast cancer patients.Discover oncology · 2025Article
- The metformin administration on pancreatic tissue damage in metastatic rat prostate cancer and STZ induced diabetes model.Journal of molecular histology · 2025Article
- Prolonged Low-Dose Administration of FDA-Approved Drugs for Non-Cancer Conditions: A Review of Potential Targets in Cancer Cells.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Concomitant medications in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma receiving enfortumab vedotin: real-world data from the ARON-2Clinical & experimental metastasis · 2025Article
- Radiosensitizing Effects of Metformin on Ionizing Irradiation: An Overview of Animal and Clinical Studies.Current drug research reviews · 2025Review
- The effect of concomitant drugs on oncological outcomes in patients treated with immunotherapy for metastatic urothelial carcinoma: a narrative review.Oncology research · 2025Review
- Impact of Breast Cancer on Cardiometabolic Health in Spanish Women ≥50 Years with Pre-Existing Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.Cancers · 2024Article
- Metformin and Breast Cancer: Current Findings and Future Perspectives from Preclinical and Clinical Studies.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- A Short Post-Reattachment Ultrasensitive Window of Time in Human Cancer Cells as Therapeutic Target of Prolonged Low-Dose Administration of Specific Compounds.International journal of cell biology · 2024Article
- The mechanism underlying metastasis in triple-negative breast cancer: focusing on the interplay between ferroptosis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and non-coding RNAs.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Review
- Repurposing Metformin for the Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation: Current Insights.Vascular health and risk management · 2024Review
- Combination of metformin and gallic acid induces autophagy and apoptosis in human breast cancer cells.Research in pharmaceutical sciences · 2023Article
- Use of concomitant proton pump inhibitors, statins or metformin in patients treated with pembrolizumab for metastatic urothelial carcinoma: data from the ARON-2 retrospective study.Cancer immunology, immunotherapy : CII · 2023Article
- Biomimetic nanovesicle co-delivery system impairs energy metabolism for cancer treatment.Journal of nanobiotechnology · 2023Article
- The function, mechanisms, and clinical applications of metformin: potential drug, unlimited potentials.Archives of pharmacal research · 2023Review
- Action Mechanism of Metformin and Its Application in Hematological Malignancy Treatments: A Review.Biomolecules · 2023Review
- A combination of metformin and epigallocatechin gallate potentiates glioma chemotherapyFrontiers in pharmacology · 2023Article
- Metabolic Profile and Negatively Association Between Insulin Resistance and Metastatic Incidence in Indonesian Primary Invasive Breast Cancer: A Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of general medicine · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Interest has grown in studying the possible use of well-known anti-diabetic drugs as anti-cancer agents individually or in combination with, frequently used, chemotherapeutic agents and/or radiation, owing to the fact that diabetes heightens the risk, incidence, and rapid progression of cancers, including breast cancer, in an individual. In this regard, metformin (1, 1-dimethylbiguanide), well known as 'Glucophage' among diabetics, was reported to be cancer preventive while also being a potent anti-proliferative and anti-cancer agent. While meta-analysis studies reported a lower risk and incidence of breast cancer among diabetic individuals on a metformin treatment regimen, several in vitro, pre-clinical, and clinical studies reported the efficacy of using metformin individually as an anti-cancer/anti-tumor agent or in combination with chemotherapeutic drugs or radiation in the treatment of different forms of breast cancer. However, unanswered questions remain with regards to areas such as cancer treatment specific therapeutic dosing of metformin, specificity to cancer cells at high concentrations, resistance to metformin therapy, efficacy of combinatory therapeutic approaches, post-therapeutic relapse of the disease, and efficacy in cancer prevention in non-diabetic individuals. In the current article, we discuss the biology of metformin and its molecular mechanism of action, the existing cellular, pre-clinical, and clinical studies that have tested the anti-tumor potential of metformin as a potential anti-cancer/anti-tumor agent in breast cancer therapy, and outline the future prospects and directions for a better understanding and re-purposing of metformin as an anti-cancer drug in the treatment of breast cancer.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.