Metformin,an inexpensive and commonly prescribed diabetes drug,may hold promise as part of a treatment regimen for certain cancer patients,including breast cancer sufferers,a new study suggests.
The Anglo-American team of researchers was led by Professor Michael Lisanti of the University of Manchester,who said they have showed that the food cancer cells consume is crucial to how well a patient does and what treatment they need.If cancer cells are consuming high energy foods,ketone and lactate,this makes a tumor more aggressive and harder to treat.However,patients could benefit from metformin,which cuts off this fuel supply.There is much work to do,but a test to identify these patients could be an important new way of tailoring treatments to a patient's needs,across a wide range of cancers.
The research team,from the Breakthrough Cancer Research Unit at the University of Manchester and Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelpia,found that breast cancer patients whose cancer cells consumed high energy foods were more likely to suffer recurring and metastatic,or spreading,cancers.These patients were identified by a certain gene signature.This signature may show which individuals could benefit from taking metformin,the generic diabetes medication.
Anthony Howell,another University of Manchester professor and director of the Breakthrough Cancer Research Unit,thinks the study marks another step towards personalised medicine,as it shows the best way to treat individual cancer patients.
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