美國研究人員14日公布的研究成果表明,，在化療的同時讓實驗鼠服用糖尿病治療藥物二甲雙胍，可抑制實驗鼠體內(nèi)的乳腺癌擴散,。
這項研究由哈佛大學醫(yī)學院研究人員完成,。研究人員利用基因技術使實驗鼠患上乳腺癌，并將這些實驗鼠分為兩組。其中一組同時接受化療和二甲雙胍治療,，對照組僅接受化療,。實驗結果顯示，同時接受兩種治療的實驗鼠體內(nèi)腫瘤縮小的速度快于對照組,；兩個月后,，對照組實驗鼠體內(nèi)的乳腺癌開始復發(fā)，而同時接受兩種治療的實驗鼠未出現(xiàn)這種情況,。
研究人員表示,，此前研究表明，二甲雙胍可降低糖尿病患者患胰腺癌和乳腺癌的風險,，而他們的新研究顯示,，二甲雙胍似乎可以抑制乳腺癌的發(fā)展，這一發(fā)現(xiàn)有助于開發(fā)更有效的乳腺癌療法,。
二甲雙胍是一種具有長期用藥安全記錄的藥品,，研究人員下一步將進行大規(guī)模臨床試驗，以驗證其對人類乳腺癌的治療效果,。
這項研究成果已刊登在新一期美國《癌癥研究》雜志上,。(生物谷Bioon.com)
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Cancer Research, 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-09-2994
Metformin Selectively Targets Cancer Stem Cells, and Acts Together with Chemotherapy to Block Tumor Growth and Prolong Remission
Heather A. Hirsch 1, Dimitrios Iliopoulos 1, Philip N. Tsichlis 2, and Kevin Struhl 1*
1Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School and 2Molecular Oncology Research Institute, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts
The cancer stem cell hypothesis suggests that, unlike most cancer cells within a tumor, cancer stem cells resist chemotherapeutic drugs and can regenerate the various cell types in the tumor, thereby causing relapse of the disease. Thus, drugs that selectively target cancer stem cells offer great promise for cancer treatment, particularly in combination with chemotherapy. Here, we show that low doses of metformin, a standard drug for diabetes, inhibits cellular transformation and selectively kills cancer stem cells in four genetically different types of breast cancer. The combination of metformin and a well-defined chemotherapeutic agent, doxorubicin, kills both cancer stem cells and non–stem cancer cells in culture. Furthermore, this combinatorial therapy reduces tumor mass and prevents relapse much more effectively than either drug alone in a xenograft mouse model. Mice seem to remain tumor-free for at least 2 months after combinatorial therapy with metformin and doxorubicin is ended. These results provide further evidence supporting the cancer stem cell hypothesis, and they provide a rationale and experimental basis for using the combination of metformin and chemotherapeutic drugs to improve treatment of patients with breast (and possibly other) cancers.
