Common Diabetes Drug Shows Promise As Cancer Fighter

September 15, 2009 6:27 a.m. EST

Boston, MA (AHN) - Harvard researchers found that a common drug used to treat diabetes is also effective at shrinking tumors when combined with chemotherapy.

The scientists said in their report that the combination of the drug metformin and the cancer drug doxorubicin killed human cancer cells and non-stem cancer cells in a laboratory culture. The researchers used four genetically distinct breast cancer cells.

In mice, pretreatment with the diabetes drug prevented the ability of human breast cancer stem cells to form tumors, the researchers said in a statement. In mice that the tumor formed for 10 days, the combination of the two drugs reduced tumor mass more quickly and prevented relapse longer than chemotherapy alone.

In the two months following the end of treatment and the end of the experiment, tumors regrew in the mice receiving only chemo, but not in those receiving both drugs.

The study is published in the online edition of the journal Cancer Research.