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Diabetes drug metformin might help fight lung cancer
Medical Xpress / HealthDay / JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute ^ | Nov. 27, 2024 | Ernie Mundell / Randall J Smith et al

Posted on 12/10/2024 8:48:26 PM PST by ConservativeMind

Already the go-to drug of choice for millions with type 2 diabetes, metformin might also fight lung cancer if those patients have it as well, new research shows.

Metformin appears to help boost the benefits of immunotherapy drugs used to fight lung tumors, according to a team led by Dr. Sai Yendamuri.

There was one big catch to the new finding, however.

"Our work shows that the anticancer effect of metformin is active only in the context of obesity," Yendamuri said in a Roswell news release. "We observed longer recurrence-free survival in overweight patients who took metformin and underwent surgery."

According to the researchers, prior data had suggested that metformin might have anti-cancer benefits, although clinical trials hadn't been able to confirm this.

Yendamuri theorized that could be because the benefit might only be occurring among obese patients.

He designed the new study to test that theory. It involved 511 lung cancer patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or higher (above the threshold for overweight/obesity), and 232 patients with a BMI of less than 25, not considered overweight.

All had non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the leading form of the disease, and all had surgery to remove a lung tumor.

A second group included 284 overweight and 184 non-overweight patients with NSCLC who received a type of immunotherapy called an immune checkpoint inhibitor.

"Our work shows that the anticancer effect of metformin is active only in the context of obesity," Yendamuri said. "We observed longer recurrence-free survival in overweight patients who took metformin and underwent surgery."

How is metformin having an anti-cancer effect? Studies performed in mice suggest the drug appears to blunt the damage obesity can do to the human immune system.

That might render immune-focused cancer meds more effective, but only among obese individuals.

(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: cancer; diabetes; lung; metformin
Metformin helps people with a BMI over 25 to do better with immune-based cancer medicines, seemingly making these people have the same chances non-heavy cancer patients have.
1 posted on 12/10/2024 8:48:26 PM PST by ConservativeMind
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To: ConservativeMind

I know several who were on it but out of the blue were diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and were gone within the month.

Metformin has been getting a lot of bad press lately so I suspect they needed to turn that around. Profit over people.


2 posted on 12/10/2024 10:05:18 PM PST by bgill
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is there anything Metformin doesn’t cure?


3 posted on 12/10/2024 10:24:31 PM PST by Gene Eric
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To: ConservativeMind

It will give you the craps bad....


4 posted on 12/11/2024 12:41:07 AM PST by dpetty121263
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To: dpetty121263

Yeah, but only for the first year or so...


5 posted on 12/11/2024 5:53:44 AM PST by AlanSC (Guns have two enemies: Rust and Politicians )
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To: bgill

Not much profit in metformin; it’s old and cheap. (one of Wal-Mart’s $4 drugs).


6 posted on 12/11/2024 10:41:21 AM PST by Flaming Conservative ((Pray with ceasing))
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To: dpetty121263

Does give some people diarrhea. I was on it for years; didn’t do that to me.


7 posted on 12/11/2024 10:42:29 AM PST by Flaming Conservative ((Pray with ceasing))
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To: Flaming Conservative

Yeah unfortunately it does me and I have an iron constitution to everything else. Doctor prescribed a new med but the cost is like $600 a month and my insurance won’t cover it as it is new.


8 posted on 12/11/2024 1:46:23 PM PST by dpetty121263
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