ReviewPharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland)2024
Metformin and Breast Cancer: Current Findings and Future Perspectives from Preclinical and Clinical Studies.
Review in Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland), 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 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
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Enhancing the Efficacy of Metformin in Neoadjuvant Therapy for Breast Cancer: A Meta-Analysis Based on Randomized Clinical Trials.Cancer control : journal of the Moffitt Cancer CenterPooled it
- Exploration of body mass index and circulating metabolic factors as predictors of metformin benefit in the Canadian Cancer Trials Group MA.32.JNCI cancer spectrum · 2026Trial
- Impact of Metformin Use on Clinical and Pathological Outcomes in Breast Cancer Patients With Type 2 Diabetes.Cancer reports (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2026Article
- Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Recurrence in Triple-Positive Breast Cancer (ER+/PR+/HER2+) and Potential Repurposing of Multi-Target Inhibitors.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Metformin potentiates DSF/Cu-loaded pluronic nanoparticles to improve therapeutic efficacy in triple-negative breast cancer.BMC biotechnology · 2026Article
- Endothelial dysfunction determines vascular mechanisms of metastatic progression in breast cancer.Discover oncology · 2026Review
- Metformin and its derivatives in breast cancer: from glycaemic control to tumor-intrinsic pathways.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2025Review
- Anti-diabetic medications and cancer: links beyond glycemic and body weight control.Precision clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Old Drugs, New Battles: Unleashing Repurposed Drug Classes in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Treatment.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Bioinformatics Strategies in Breast Cancer Research.Biomolecules · 2025Review
- An Overview on the Mechanism of Metformin in the Reduction of Breast Cancer.Journal of pharmacy & bioallied sciences · 2025Review
- Modulatory effect of metformin and its transporters on immune infiltration in tumor microenvironment: a bioinformatic study with experimental validation.Discover oncology · 2025Article
- Metformin-Based Combination Approaches for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.Pharmaceutics · 2025Review
- Targeting PI3K inhibitor resistance in breast cancer with metabolic drugs.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2025Article
- The Anti-Aging Mechanism of Metformin: From Molecular Insights to Clinical Applications.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- A Scoping Review of Primary Breast Cancer Risk Reduction Strategies in East and Southeast Asia.Cancers · 2025Review
- Metformin and estrogen modulation in LABC with T2DM: A 36-month randomized trial.Open medicine (Warsaw, Poland) · 2025Article
- Exploring New Frontiers: Alternative Breast Cancer Treatments Through Glycocalyx Research.The breast journal · 2025Review
- Targeting AMPK for Cancer Therapy: Metabolic Reprogramming as a Therapeutic Strategy.Oncology research · 2025Review
- Mechanisms and Therapeutic Strategies to Overcome Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Resistance in Melanoma, Head and Neck, and Triple-Negative Breast Cancers.Journal of cellular immunology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Over the last several decades, a growing body of research has investigated the potential to repurpose the anti-diabetic drug metformin for breast cancer prevention and/or treatment. Observational studies in the early 2000s demonstrated that patients with diabetes taking metformin had decreased cancer risk, providing the first evidence supporting the potential role of metformin as an anti-cancer agent. Despite substantial efforts, two decades later, the exact mechanisms and clinical efficacy of metformin for breast cancer remain ambiguous. Here, we have summarized key findings from studies examining the effect of metformin on breast cancer across the translational spectrum including in vitro, in vivo, and human studies. Importantly, we discuss critical factors that may help explain the significant heterogeneity in study outcomes, highlighting how metformin dose, underlying metabolic health, menopausal status, tumor subtype, membrane transporter expression, diet, and other factors may play a role in modulating metformin's anti-cancer effects. We hope that these insights will help with interpreting data from completed studies, improve the design of future studies, and aid in the identification of patient subsets with breast cancer or at high risk for the disease who are most likely to benefit from metformin treatment.
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.