3-7-2012 : A question to all the readers:[very curious to hear YOUR OPINION] ............

Metformin shows promise for the treatment of pancreatic cancer

A question to all the readers:[very curious to hear YOUR OPINION]
After reading what is written below what do you think will be the biggest "problem" to get metformin used for cancer treatment?
A while ago I sent you information about metformin as the only good drug
 [in my opinion] since a very long time for diabetes [not including various herbal treatments [the article I sent you also showed the that metformin has a "herbal background" ]
I also wrote you about the increasing proofs that metformin may be a formidable help in the treatment of cancer.
See now this very interesting,possible life saving article.



     
 

Metformin shows promise for the treatment of pancreatic cancer

 

Tuesday, July 3, 2012At the American Association for Cancer Research's Pancreatic Cancer: Progress and Challenges conference, held June 18-21, 2012 in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, Christopher Heeschen, MD, PhD of the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre reported positive results for metformin in experiments involving pancreatic cancer cell cultures and mice implanted with pancreatic cancer tumors. The drug helps eliminate cancer stem cells, a population of cells that are resistant to chemotherapy and which may be responsible for the initiation and recurrence of the disease.

Metformin is currently prescribed to diabetic patients and has shown potential as a cancer preventive and treatment, in addition to other possible uses. In the current research, pretreatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cancer stem cells with metformin resulted in activation of 5' adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK), an enzyme that helps regulate cellular energy. Treatment with a combination of gemcitabine (the standard chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer) and metformin eradicated cancer stem cells as well as other malignant cells. When Dr Heeschen's team implanted immunocompromised mice with pancreatic cancer tumors and treated them with gemcitabine and/or metformin, animals that received both drugs had fewer tumors and a lower incidence of relapse in comparison with those that received either drug alone. "Intriguingly, in all tumors treated with metformin to date, relapse of disease was efficiently prevented and there were no noticeable adverse effects," remarked Dr Heeschen, who is a professor of experimental medicine at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in Madrid.

"As the cancer stem cells represent the root of pancreatic cancer, their extinction by reprogramming their metabolism with metformin in combination with the stalling of the proliferation of more differentiated cells should result in tumor regression and long-term, progression-free survival," he noted. "Efficiently targeting these cells will be crucial for achieving higher cure rates in patients with pancreatic cancer. Our newly emerging data now indicate that metformin, a widely used and well-tolerated drug for the treatment of diabetes, is capable of efficiently eliminating these cells."