The co-treatment of metformin with flavone synergistically induces apoptosis through inhibition of PI3K/AKT pathway in breast cancer cells

Anticarcinogenic Effects of Gold Nanoparticles and Metformin Against MCF-7 and A549 Cells

Metformin is commonly prescribed to people with diabetes. Metformin has been shown in previous studies to be able to prevent the growth of cancer cells. This study aims to investigate the effects of metformin and gold nanoparticles in MCF7 breast cancer and A549 lung cell lines. The effects of metformin and gold nanoparticles on MCF7 breast cancer and A549 lung cells were determined on cells grown in 24 h cell culture. MCF-7 and A549 cells were incubated for 24 h with the treatment of escalating molar concentrations of ifosfamide. The MTT assay was used to determine the cytotoxicity of metformin toward MCF7 and A549 cell lines. The expression of Bax, BCL2, PI3K, Akt3, mTOR, Hsp60, Hsp70, and TNF-α was measured by RT-PCR. Metformin and gold nanoparticles inhibited the proliferation of MCF-7 and A549 cells in a dose and time-dependent manner with an IC50 value of 5 µM and 10 µg/mL. RT-PCR assays showed ifosfamide + metformin + gold nanoparticles significantly reduced the expression of BCL2, PI3K, Akt3, mTOR, Hsp60 and Hsp70 and increased the expression of TNF-α and Bax. The findings obtained in this study suggest that further studies should be conducted, and metformin and gold nanoparticles can be used in breast cancer and lung cancer treatments.

Hydroxyl safflower yellow B combined with doxorubicin inhibits the proliferation of human breast cancer MCF-7 cells

Doxorubicin (DOX) is currently the preferred chemotherapeutic agent for breast cancer, and hydroxyl safflower yellow B (HSYB) has a tumor growth-inhibiting activity. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of HSYB combined with DOX on the proliferation of human breast cancer MCF-7 cells and explore the underlying mechanism. MTT and cell colony formation assays revealed that the proliferation rate of MCF-7 cells was signifiscantly decreased after HSYB and DOX treatment. Combined HSYB and DOX treatment significantly decreased the expression levels of BCL-2 in MCF-7 cells, while the expression levels of apoptosis-associated proteins, including cleaved caspase-9, BAX and cleaved caspase-3, were markedly increased. Furthermore, flow cytometry and western blot analysis demonstrated that combined HSYB and DOX treatment stimulated an increase in intracellular reactive oxygen species and promoted the release of cytochrome c, leading to apoptosis. The current data suggested that the combination of HSYB and DOX may have marked antitumor activity.

Flavonoids in the Treatment of Diabetes: Clinical Outcomes and Mechanism to Ameliorate Blood Glucose Levels

BACKGROUND

For thousands of years, natural food products have been used as a medicine for treating diseases that affect the human body, including diabetes mellitus (DM). Lately, several investigations have been performed on the flavonoid derivatives of plant origin, and their biological activity has been extensively studied.

METHODS

Given our need to know more mechanisms for treating DM, we performed a thorough research review on treating diabetes mellitus based on flavonoids, their therapeutic potential, and biological action.

RESULTS

Flavonoids reduce complications in addition to their vital role as effective supplements for preventing diabetes mellitus by regulating glucose metabolism, lipid profile, liver enzyme activity, a protein kinase inhibitor, PPAR, and AMPK with NF-κB.

CONCLUSION

The articles that we reviewed showed the positive role of flavonoids, which in a certain way reduce diabetes, but their side effects still need to be studied further.This review is focused on describing the different types of dietary flavonoids along with their mechanisms of reducing blood glucose and enhancing insulin sensitivity, as well as their side effects.

Metformin: The Answer to Cancer in a Flower? Current Knowledge and Future Prospects of Metformin as an Anti-Cancer Agent in Breast Cancer

Interest has grown in studying the possible use of well-known anti-diabetic drugs as anti-cancer agents individually or in combination with, frequently used, chemotherapeutic agents and/or radiation, owing to the fact that diabetes heightens the risk, incidence, and rapid progression of cancers, including breast cancer, in an individual. In this regard, metformin (1, 1-dimethylbiguanide), well known as 'Glucophage' among diabetics, was reported to be cancer preventive while also being a potent anti-proliferative and anti-cancer agent. While meta-analysis studies reported a lower risk and incidence of breast cancer among diabetic individuals on a metformin treatment regimen, several in vitro, pre-clinical, and clinical studies reported the efficacy of using metformin individually as an anti-cancer/anti-tumor agent or in combination with chemotherapeutic drugs or radiation in the treatment of different forms of breast cancer. However, unanswered questions remain with regards to areas such as cancer treatment specific therapeutic dosing of metformin, specificity to cancer cells at high concentrations, resistance to metformin therapy, efficacy of combinatory therapeutic approaches, post-therapeutic relapse of the disease, and efficacy in cancer prevention in non-diabetic individuals. In the current article, we discuss the biology of metformin and its molecular mechanism of action, the existing cellular, pre-clinical, and clinical studies that have tested the anti-tumor potential of metformin as a potential anti-cancer/anti-tumor agent in breast cancer therapy, and outline the future prospects and directions for a better understanding and re-purposing of metformin as an anti-cancer drug in the treatment of breast cancer.

Flavonoids and Their Anti-Diabetic Effects: Cellular Mechanisms and Effects to Improve Blood Sugar Levels

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a prevailing global health metabolic disorder, with an alarming incidence rate and a huge burden on health care providers. DM is characterized by the elevation of blood glucose due either to a defect in insulin synthesis, secretion, binding to receptor, or an increase of insulin resistance. The internal and external factors such as obesity, urbanizations, and genetic mutations could increase the risk of developing DM. Flavonoids are phenolic compounds existing as secondary metabolites in fruits and vegetables as well as fungi. Their structure consists of 15 carbon skeletons and two aromatic rings (A and B) connected by three carbon chains. Flavonoids are furtherly classified into 6 subclasses: flavonols, flavones, flavanones, isoflavones, flavanols, and anthocyanidins. Naturally occurring flavonoids possess anti-diabetic effects. As in vitro and animal model's studies demonstrate, they have the ability to prevent diabetes and its complications. The aim of this review is to summarize the current knowledge addressing the antidiabetic effects of dietary flavonoids and their underlying molecular mechanisms on selected pathways: Glucose transporter, hepatic enzymes, tyrosine kinase inhibitor, AMPK, PPAR, and NF-κB. Flavonoids improve the pathogenesis of diabetes and its complications through the regulation of glucose metabolism, hepatic enzymes activities, and a lipid profile. Most studies illustrate a positive role of specific dietary flavonoids on diabetes, but the mechanisms of action and the side effects need more clarification. Overall, more research is needed to provide a better understanding of the mechanisms of diabetes treatment using flavonoids.

Metformin as an adjuvant in breast cancer treatment

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies in females. It is an etiologically complex disease driven by a multitude of cellular pathways. The proliferation and spread of breast cancer is intimately linked to cellular glucose metabolism, given that glucose is an essential cellular metabolic substrate and that insulin signalling has mitogenic effects. Growing interest has focused on anti-diabetic agents in the management of breast cancer. Epidemiologic studies show that metformin reduces cancer incidence and mortality among type 2 diabetic patients. Preclinical in vitro and in vivo research provides intriguing insight into the cellular mechanisms behind the oncostatic effects of metformin. This article aims to provide an overview of the mechanisms in which metformin may elicit its anti-cancerous effects and discuss its potential role as an adjuvant in the management of breast cancer.

Alteronol Enhances the Anti-tumor Activity and Reduces the Toxicity of High-Dose Adriamycin in Breast Cancer

The first-line chemotherapy drug adriamycin (ADM) is widely used for the treatment of breast cancer, but the acquired drug resistance and the normal tissue toxicity remain clinical challenges. Alteronol has been reported to exert wide-ranging anti-tumor activity. In this study, we firstly examined the synergistic anti-tumor effects and the underlying mechanisms of alteronol combined with ADM in breast cancer. We have found that the combination of alteronol and ADM significantly suppressed the expression levels of the cell cycle-related proteins (CDC2 and Cyclin B1) and induced cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase, leading to cell proliferation inhibition in breast cancer 4T1 cells. Moreover, co-treatment of alteronol and ADM (i) remarkably activated p38 and JNK kinases, (ii) elevated ROS levels, (iii) triggered mitochondrial dysfunction, (iv) released cytochrome c into the cytoplasm, (v) upregulated apoptosis-related proteins, e.g., cleaved PARP, Bax, and cleaved caspase-3/9, and (vi) downregulated the expression of Bcl-2, followed by apoptosis. Furthermore, our in vivo studies showed that the low-dose combination of alteronol (2 mg/kg) and ADM (1 mg/kg) significantly inhibited tumor growth in tumor bearing mice, and the anti-tumor effect of the combination was the same as that of high-dose ADM (8 mg/kg). In addition, the low-dose combination group showed lower toxicities to major organs than the high-dose ADM group. Taken together, these data demonstrate that the low-dose combination of alteronol and ADM could notably improve the anti-tumor activity and have lower toxicities to major organs than those in high-dose ADM group.

Targeting mitochondria in cancer therapy could provide a basis for the selective anti-cancer activity

To determine the target of the recently identified lead compound NSC130362 that is responsible for its selective anti-cancer efficacy and safety in normal cells, structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies were conducted. First, NSC13062 was validated as a starting compound for the described SAR studies in a variety of cell-based viability assays. Then, a small library of 1,4-naphthoquinines (1,4-NQs) and quinoline-5,8-diones was tested in cell viability assays using pancreatic cancer MIA PaCa-2 cells and normal human hepatocytes. The obtained data allowed us to select a set of both non-toxic compounds that preferentially induced apoptosis in cancer cells and toxic compounds that induced apoptosis in both cancer and normal cells. Anti-cancer activity of the selected non-toxic compounds was confirmed in viability assays using breast cancer HCC1187 cells. Consequently, the two sets of compounds were tested in multiple cell-based and in vitro activity assays to identify key factors responsible for the observed activity. Inhibition of the mitochondrial electron transfer chain (ETC) is a key distinguishing activity between the non-toxic and toxic compounds. Finally, we developed a mathematical model that was able to distinguish these two sets of compounds. The development of this model supports our conclusion that appropriate quantitative SAR (QSAR) models have the potential to be employed to develop anti-cancer compounds with improved potency while maintaining non-toxicity to normal cells.

Pleiotropic Effects of Metformin on Cancer

Metformin (MTF) is a natural compound derived from the legume Galega officinalis. It is the first line antidiabetic drug for type 2 diabetes (T2D) treatment. One of its main antidiabetic effects results from the reduction of hepatic glucose release. First scientific evidence for the anticancer effects of MTF was found in animal research, published in 2001, and some years later a retrospective observational study provided evidence that linked MTF to reduced cancer risk in T2D patients. Its pleiotropic anticancer effects were studied in numerous in vitro and in vivo studies at the molecular and cellular level. Although the majority of these studies demonstrated that MTF is associated with certain anticancer properties, clinical studies and trials provided a mixed view on its beneficial anticancer effects. This review emphasizes the pleiotropic effects of MTF and recent progress made in MTF applications in basic, preclinical, and clinical cancer research.