Diabetes Drug Fights Breast Cancer

Metformin Kills Breast Cancer Stem Cells, May Fight Many Cancers
By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health NewsReviewed by Louise Chang, MD
Sept. 14, 2009 – The next breakthrough breast cancer treatment may be a diabetes drug already on the shelves of nearly every pharmacy.

The drug is metformin, available generically and under brand names such as Glucophage and Fortamet. A growing body of evidence suggests that diabetes patients taking metformin are less likely to get cancer, and have better outcomes if they do get cancer, than those not taking the drug.

Now Harvard researcher Kevin Struhl, PhD, and colleagues find that metformin can kill breast cancer stem cells, thought to be the cells responsible for breast cancer spread and recurrence.

And in mice carrying human breast cancers, metformin made standard chemotherapy vastly more effective. Mice treated with the combination remain cancer-free for four months, unlike mice treated with either drug alone. Read More…