Effects of metformin on adipose-derived stromal cell (ADSC) - Breast cancer cell lines interaction.

Early human evidence such as case series or small samples is exploring possible benefits.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Aims Metformin is a clinical drug administered to patients to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus that was found to be associated with a lower risk of occurrence of cancer and cancer-related death. The present study investigated the effects of metformin on human adipose-derived stromal cells (ADSC) - breast cancer cell line interactions. Main methods ADSCs grown from lipoaspirates were tested for growth-stimulating and migration-controlling activity on breast cancer cell lines after pretreatment with metformin. Furthermore, secreted proteins of ADSCs, phosphorylation of intracellular proteins and the effect of metformin on adipocytic differentiation of ADSCs were assayed. Key findings Compared to breast cancer cell lines (4.0 ± 3.5% reduction of proliferation), 2 mM metformin significantly inhibited the proliferation of ADSC lines (19.2 ± 8.4% reduction of proliferation). This effect on ADSCs seems to be mediated by altered phosphorylation of GSK-3, CREB and PRAS40. Furthermore, treatment with metformin abolished the induction of differentiation of three ADSC lines to adipocytes. 1 and 2 mM metformin significantly impaired the migration of breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-436 in scratch assays. Significance Metformin showed low direct inhibitory effects on breast cancer cell lines at physiological concentrations but exerted a significant retardation of the growth and t

Evidence level

Early human evidence such as case series or small samples is exploring possible benefits.

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