The mechanism of anticarcinogenic action of metformin has been discovered
How Diabetes Medicine Helps Against Cancer
Kirill Stasevich, Compulenta
The drug metformin, widely used in type 2 diabetes, suppresses the formation of oxygen radicals in mitochondria, thereby preventing the development of malignant tumors.
Metformin is one of the most well–known antidiabetic drugs. It is taken for type 2 diabetes; it simultaneously reduces the formation of glucose in the liver, increases the sensitivity of tissues to insulin and reduces the absorption of glucose in the gastrointestinal tract. But not so long ago, researchers drew attention to another property of metformin: it significantly, almost by half, reduces the likelihood of getting cancer.
Researchers from McGill University in Canada report that they have managed to find out the cause of the anticarcinogenic effect of a diabetes drug. Cancer begins with the accumulation of mutations, with multiple DNA damage. Some of these damages will be repaired by repair systems, others will trigger the reaction of apoptosis (programmed cell death) so that a cell with such defects does not interfere with the life of others. But if there are a lot of mutations, the protective systems will not cope with all of them, and then the risk increases that the cell, firstly, will survive, and secondly, will turn into a malignant one. It is possible to suppress carcinogenesis by reducing the mutation background in the cell, but until now it was considered a rather difficult and unobvious task.
As it turned out, cheap and affordable metformin does exactly that: it suppresses DNA damage, thereby preventing the development of cancer.
Experiments have shown that the drug reduces the level of reactive oxygen species in the cell. These compounds are a byproduct of the mitochondria, which extract energy from nutrients with the help of oxygen. Oxygen radicals are quite aggressive oxidizing agents that damage biological macromolecules, including DNA. Scientists knew that the antidiabetic effect of metformin is associated with mitochondria, but no one guessed about its antioxidant properties. In an article published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research (Algire et al., Metformin reduces endogenous reactive oxygen species and associated DNA damage), researchers report that the drug does not act quite similarly to other antioxidants. Instead of catching and neutralizing oxygen radicals, it prevents their production by interfering with the mitochondria.
Various factors can affect the well-being of mitochondria, causing them to throw out more oxidative debris. It is with this that the processes that lead to cancer rebirth often begin. Metformin manages to "keep in check" such damaged mitochondria.
In the future, researchers are going to study the effect of this substance more fully, in particular, they hope to find out whether it can suppress carcinogenesis in healthy people, and not only in diabetic patients.
Prepared based on the materials of McGill University: Solving the mystery of an old diabetes drug that may reduce cancer risk.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru
19.01.2012