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Metformin may lower risk for oral cancer development

Date:
March 31, 2012
Source:
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
Summary:
New findings suggest that metformin may protect against oral cancer.
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New findings published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, suggest that metformin may protect against oral cancer.

J. Silvio Gutkind, Ph.D., chief of the Oral and Pharyngeal Cancer Branch of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research at the National Institutes of Health, and colleagues induced premalignant lesions in laboratory mice and studied the effect of metformin on progression of these lesions to oral cancers.

"We saw strong activity against mTORC1 (mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1), which we know contributes to oral cancers, so this is strong preclinical information that there is a protective effect," said Gutkind.

Metformin is the most widely used treatment for patients with type 2 diabetes, and scientists have started to notice a trend toward cancer reduction in a number of organ sites.

Gutkind and colleagues found that administration of metformin reduced the size and number of carcinogen-induced oral tumoral lesions in mice and significantly reduced the development of squamous cell carcinomas by about 70 to 90 percent.

They found that metformin inhibited mTORC1 function in the basal layer of oral premalignancies and prevented their spontaneous development into head and neck squamous cell carcinomas.

"We clearly saw a direct effect on premalignant lesions," said Gutkind.


Story Source:

Materials provided by American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. L. Vitale-Cross, A. A. Molinolo, D. Martin, R. H. Younis, T. Maruyama, V. Patel, W. Chen, A. Schneider, J. S. Gutkind. Metformin Prevents the Development of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinomas from Carcinogen-Induced Premalignant Lesions. Cancer Prevention Research, 2012; 5 (4): 562 DOI: 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-11-0502

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American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). "Metformin may lower risk for oral cancer development." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 31 March 2012. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120331151138.htm>.
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). (2012, March 31). Metformin may lower risk for oral cancer development. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120331151138.htm
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). "Metformin may lower risk for oral cancer development." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120331151138.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

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