Metformin in colorectal cancer: molecular mechanism, preclinical and clinical aspects

Muhamad Noor Alfarizal Kamarudin*, Md Moklesur Rahman Sarker*, Jin Rong Zhou, Ishwar Parhar

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

139 Scopus citations

Abstract

Growing evidence showed the increased prevalence of cancer incidents, particularly colorectal cancer, among type 2 diabetic mellitus patients. Antidiabetic medications such as, insulin, sulfonylureas, dipeptyl peptidase (DPP) 4 inhibitors and glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide (GLP-1) analogues increased the additional risk of different cancers to diabetic patients. Conversely, metformin has drawn attention among physicians and researchers since its use as antidiabetic drug exhibited beneficial effect in the prevention and treatment of cancer in diabetic patients as well as an independent anticancer drug. This review aims to provide the comprehensive information on the use of metformin at preclinical and clinical stages among colorectal cancer patients. We highlight the efficacy of metformin as an anti-proliferative, chemopreventive, apoptosis inducing agent, adjuvant, and radio-chemosensitizer in various colorectal cancer models. This multifarious effects of metformin is largely attributed to its capability in modulating upstream and downstream molecular targets involved in apoptosis, autophagy, cell cycle, oxidative stress, inflammation, metabolic homeostasis, and epigenetic regulation. Moreover, the review highlights metformin intake and colorectal cancer risk based on different clinical and epidemiologic results from different gender and specific population background among diabetic and non-diabetic patients. The improved understanding of metformin as a potential chemotherapeutic drug or as neo-adjuvant will provide better information for it to be used globally as an affordable, well-tolerated, and effective anticancer agent for colorectal cancer.

Original languageEnglish
Article number491
JournalJournal of Experimental and Clinical Cancer Research
Volume38
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2019/12/12

Keywords

  • Anticancer
  • Cancer
  • Chemopreventive
  • Colorectal cancer
  • Metformin
  • Type 2 diabetes mellitus

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Oncology
  • Cancer Research

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Metformin in colorectal cancer: molecular mechanism, preclinical and clinical aspects'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this