title: The cell-autonomous mechanisms underlying the activity of metformin as an anticancer drug.
abstract: The biguanide drug metformin profoundly affects cell metabolism, causing an impairment of the cell energy balance and triggering a plethora of pleiotropic effects that vary depending on the cellular or environmental context. Interestingly, a decade ago, it was observed that metformin-treated diabetic patients have a significantly lower cancer risk. Although a variety of in vivo and in vitro observations emphasising the role of metformin as anticancer drug have been reported, the underlying mechanisms are still poorly understood. Here, we discuss our current understanding of the molecular mechanisms that are perturbed by metformin treatment and that might be relevant to understand its antitumour activities. We focus on the cell-autonomous mechanisms modulating growth and death of cancer cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Max Plank Institute, Martinsried (Munich) 82152, Germany.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sacco
authors.affiliation: IBBE-CNR at the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Unit, Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome 00133, Italy.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Calderone
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome 00133, Italy.
authors.forename: Luisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Castagnoli
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome 00133, Italy.
authors.forename: Gianni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cesareni
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016923:Cell Death / Q000187:drug effects; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D008687:Metformin / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D008687:Metformin