Assessing the anticancer effects of metformin

Abstract

Background: Metformin is an antihyperglycemic biguanide that is used as the first-line treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Metformin use helps control T2DM which is one of the many risk factors for cancer and is proposed to have multiple antagonistic actions against cancer cells. The epidemiology of cancers in Saudi Arabia are colorectal cancer (CRC) 14.4%, breast cancer 14.2%, thyroid cancer 10.2%, non-hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) 6.1%, leukemia 6%, and other cancers 49.2%. We would like to assess the anticancer effect of metformin on various types of malignancies.  Methods:  The 266 cancer patients diagnosed in 2018–2019 in King Fahd Hospital of the University (KFHU) were divided into non-diabetic and diabetic cancer patients (with or without metformin).  The data includes age, gender, body mass index (BMI), type of cancer with grades and stages, T2DM, with or without metformin, complications, and fate etc. of each case.  Results: Out of 300, 266 were selected for the analysis. The results showed the statistical significance (p value 0.022) of metformin use on the cancer grade at diagnosis that favorably influences the morbidity/mortality.   Conclusions: Metformin might have an anti-cancer effect on the grade of cancer at the time of diagnosis regardless of its dosage, and this might improve the prognosis of malignancy.