Re: Diabetes Drug Metformin Linked to Lower Lung Cancer Rate in Mice

[Guest guest]

Thanks Don,

I really appreciate your posting on metformin. Looks like it helps more than

diabetes and Hep C.

Since diabetes is more prevalent with Hep C, is anyone having routine A1C test

done?? It shows blood sugar levels for the last three months. Diabetes

symptoms are similar to Hep C symptoms. I have felt sooo much better since I

started on metformin. My blood sugar was WAY out of control.

SuziQ

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> Diabetes Drug Metformin Linked to Lower Lung Cancer Rate in Mice

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> WEDNESDAY, Sept. 1 (HealthDay News) -- A drug widely used to treat high blood

sugar in type 2 diabetics may hold some promise in the prevention of

tobacco-induced lung cancer, according to extremely preliminary findings in a

mouse study.

> In the September issue of Cancer Prevention Research, researchers report that

metformin was associated with a substantial reduction (up to 73%) in the number

of tumors mice developed when they were given a common carcinogen found in

tobacco.

> Despite the fact that there have been no randomized controlled trials on

whether metformin really can prevent cancer, researchers expressed excitement

both over this animal study and previous epidemiological evidence pointing to

this possibility.

> Metformin (originally marketed as Glucophage, though it is now available as an

inexpensive generic) has been in use for more than two decades and is currently

prescribed to 40 million Americans.

> " This is a very safe agent and has been around for a while, " said Cancer

Prevention Research editor-in-chief Dr. Lippman, chair of thoracic head

and neck medical oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Cancer Center

in Houston, at a Wednesday news conference.

> " The evidence in diabetic humans is very convincing and very strong, " added

Dr. Dennis, a senior investigator with the U.S. National Cancer

Institute and senior author on the lung cancer paper. " Almost every

epidemiological study I can think of found a decreased cancer incidence in

diabetics taking metformin. The reduction is real and ranges from 30 to 70%. "

> The researchers thought metformin's possible cancer-lowering properties

suggested the need for clinical trials to investigate whether the drug might

help prevent tumors in smokers at high risk of developing cancer. Others

believed that the finding might influence the choice of drugs in people with

diabetes.

> " All other things being equal, many diabetics face a choice of oral agents,

and early evidence that metformin may have an effect on the oncology side may

increasingly play a role in decision-making, " said Dr. Pollack,

professor of medicine and oncology at McGill University in Montreal. " We can't

ignore this, but we can't say we have FDA [u.S. Food and Drug Administration]

approval for metformin for cancer indications. "

> Metformin was developed from the French lilac plant, known in the Middle Ages

to control excess urination, a symptom of uncontrolled diabetes. The drug was

approved by the FDA in the mid-1990s.

> The study by Dennis and colleagues looked at mice that had been genetically

engineered to be susceptible to lung tumors.

> Mice taking metformin in their drinking water had 34% fewer tumors than those

not taking metformin. And when the drug was administered by injection, the

improvement seen was 73%.

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> http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=119347

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