Metformin for rare skin cancer treatment: Research shows drug's unique ability to impact immune pathways

Medical Xpress / Tsinghua University Press / Cell Organoid ^ | Oct. 22, 2024 | Yanghua Shi et al

[ConservativeMind]

Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) is a rare skin sarcoma known for its high recurrence rates, making treatment particularly challenging. While surgery remains the standard option, it often leads to scarring and other complications.

Current in vitro models struggle to capture the complexity of the skin tumor environment, especially the role of immune cells.

Due to these issues, advancing alternative therapies that can minimize surgical impact while effectively controlling tumor growth is crucial.

Researchers successfully developed patient-derived organoids from DFSP tumors, closely replicating the histological and genetic characteristics of clinical samples.

Using these organoids, they tested both metformin and imatinib, a drug already approved for DFSP treatment. Their study revealed that, beyond inhibiting tumor growth, metformin uniquely impacted immune pathways, suggesting a new therapeutic role for the drug in cancer treatment.

Both metformin and imatinib were shown to reduce tumor growth, but metformin stood out by significantly altering the expression of genes related to immune system activity and cancer cell signaling.

This indicates that metformin doesn't just target tumor cells but also influences the surrounding immune environment, providing a dual mechanism of action. This ability to modulate immune responses highlights metformin's potential as a repurposed cancer treatment, particularly for rare skin tumors like DFSP.

By preserving the tumor's complexity, the organoids provide a valuable platform for screening drugs and exploring personalized therapies that go beyond standard treatments.

Dr. Jun Chen, one of the study's senior researchers, explained the significance of the findings, "By creating DFSP organoids, we've gained crucial insights into how drugs affect both tumor and immune cells. Metformin's unique ability to modulate immune signaling opens up new treatment possibilities that could minimize the need for surgery.

The success of metformin in modulating immune pathways within DFSP organoids suggests broader applications for cancer treatment.

[ConservativeMind]

Metformin is definitely an available drug that can be repurposed for helping against dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, which makes up “18 percent of all cutaneous soft-tissue sarcomas, according to Wikipedia.

[ConservativeMind]

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[Delta 21]

Metformin - I only tolerated 2 a day when I first started this stuff but according to some folks on the web Metformin can do just about anything. If my gut is up to it I may be able to up to 4 a day. And that will upset just about all my meds the Docs think they have balanced. HA!