The latest research: Is the "magic drug" metformin really effective in the treatment of breast cancer?

Type 2 diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases worldwide, and breast cancer is the most common cancer in wom.

Scientific evidence shows that diabetes is associated with higher incidence, accelerated progression and increased aggressiveness of different cance.

As the "cornerstone" of type 2 diabetes, metformin has been clinically used for half a century, and its safety and efficacy have been widely verifi.

In recent years, basic and clinical studies have found that in addition to being the most widely used oral hypoglycemic drug, metformin also has functions such as weight loss, cardiovascular protection, intestinal flora improvement, hair loss treatment, anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, and anti-tumor effec.

At present, as an "old drug and new drug", metformin has attracted more and more attention in its anti-tumor resear.

Previous observational and preclinical studies have shown that metformin can reduce the risk of certain cancers, including breast cancer, and improve surviv.

Metformin used to hold promise in treating breast cancer, but a recent randomized, double-blind trial enrolled non-diabetic breast cancer patients who were given a twice-daily placebo or metform.

The researchers found that adding metformin to standard breast cancer treatment did not improve outcomes for the two most common breast cancers, but was effective in HER2-positive breast cance.

The study, titled "Effect of Metformin versus Placebo on Invasive Disease-Free Survival in Breast Cancer Patients", was published on May 24, 2022 in the top international medical journal "JAM.

The landmark clinical trial, led by .

The researchers analyzed patients with ER/PgR+ and ER/PgR- (regardless of HER2 status) breast cancer and found that the addition of metformin to standard care was associated with improved invasive survival (IDFS), overall survival, and no improvement in OS or other outcom.

Effects of metformin versus placebo on invasive disease-free survival and overall survival

While the study found metformin to be ineffective in treating the most common type of breast cancer, the trial found a potentially important result for the treatment of a less common but more aggressive type of breast cancer, HER2-positive breast canc.

For this subtype of breast cancer, the researchers found that five years of metformin use reduced mortality, and HER2-positive cancers account for about 20 percent of all breast cance.

Exploratory analysis of the effect of metformin versus placebo on invasive disease-free survival and overall survival in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer

In conclusion, metformin is not beneficial for most common breast cancers, but in cases of HER2-positive breast cancer, the findings suggest that it may be benefici.

The next step could be to test the effects of metformin in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer in randomized clinical tria.

Before metformin can be used in breast cancer, these results need to be replicated in future studies to demonstrate that it could provide an additional treatment option for HER2-positive breast canc.

related news:

Studies have investigated the efficacy of metformin in the treatment of breast cancer in patients with type 2 diabet.

In March 2021, a study published in the journal Annals of Oncology suggested that women with type 2 diabetes taking metformin may help reduce the risk of ER-positive breast canc.

The study followed 44,541 women who had never had breast cancer (these patients' sisters or half-sisters were diagnosed with breast cancer) for about 8 years, 2,678 participants were eventually diagnosed with breast cancer, 3,227 With type 2 diabetes, 2389 people had new-onset type 2 diabet.

Results of the study showed that patients with type 2 diabetes who took metformin had a 14% lower risk of ER+ breast cancer, and those who took metformin long-term (≥10 years) had a 38% lower risk of ER+ breast cancer compared to patients without type 2 diabet.

However, the risk of ER-breast cancer was increased by 25% and the risk of triple-negative breast cancer was increased by 7

The researchers also investigated the effect of metformin on survival outcomes in Chinese patients with invasive breast cancer and type 2 diabet.

The findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports on May 11, 202

This study retrospectively analyzed 3757 patients with primary breast cancer who underwent surgery in Hebei Cancer Hospital from January 2010 to December 2013, and finally included 3553 patien.

312 cases, 79 cases of diabetes insulin group, 23 cases of diabetes diet and exercise gro.

The disease-free survival and overall survival of the follow-up data were analyzed by survival curve analysis and log-rank te.

The results of the study showed that there were significant differences in survival between the non-diabetic group, the metformin group, and the insulin gro.

The 5-year disease-free survival rates were 88%, 91%, and 70%, respectively, and the 5-year overall survival rates were 83% and 91%, respective.

%, 7

The results of this study suggest that metformin may have a favorable effect on the survival outcomes of Chinese patients with invasive breast cancer and type 2 diabetes, and further multicenter large-sample prospective studies are needed to veri.

Scientists have been exploring the relationship between metformin and breast cancer for decad.

Its effects vary between different breast cancer subtyp.

Its clinical effect still needs more experiments to confirm, and the mechanism behind it also needs to be further explor.

References: 1] Goodwin PJ, Chen BE, Gelmon KA, et .

Effect of Metformin vs Placebo on Invasive Disease-Free Survival in Patients With Breast Cancer: The .

32 Randomized Clinical Tri.

JA.

2022 May 24;327( 20) :1963-197 doi: 11001/ja.

202614 PMID: 3560858[2] Lohmann AE, Goodwin .

Diabetes, Metformin and breast cancer: a tangled w.

Ann Onc.

2021 Mar;32(3): 285-28 doi: 11016.

anno.

202101[3] Hui T, Shang C, Yang L, et .

Metformin improves the outcomes in Chinese invasive breast cancer patients with type 2 diabetes mellit.

Sci R.

2021 May 11;11(1):1003 doi: 11038/s41598-021-89475.

PMID: 33976288; PMCID: PMC811331