Metformin: A New Inhibitor of the Wnt Signaling Pathway in Cancer

Conza, Domenico; Mirra, Paola; Fiory, Francesca; Insabato, Luigi; Nicolò, Antonella; Beguinot, Francesco; Ulianich, Luca

doi:10.3390/cells12172182

Open AccessPerspective

Metformin: A New Inhibitor of the Wnt Signaling Pathway in Cancer

by

Domenico Conza

^1,†,

Paola Mirra

^1,†,

Francesca Fiory

¹,

Luigi Insabato

²

,

Antonella Nicolò

¹

,

Francesco Beguinot

¹ and

Luca Ulianich

^1,*

¹

URT Genomics of Diabetes, Institute of Endocrinology and Experimental Oncology, National Research Council & Department of Translational Medicine, University of Naples “Federico II”, 80131 Naples, Italy

²

Department of Advanced Biomedical Sciences, University of Naples “Federico II”, 80131 Naples, Italy

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Cells 2023, 12(17), 2182; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12172182

Submission received: 19 July 2023 / Revised: 10 August 2023 / Accepted: 14 August 2023 / Published: 30 August 2023

(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Mechanisms to Therapeutics: Wnt Signaling in Cancer)

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Abstract

The biguanide drug metformin is widely used in type 2 diabetes mellitus therapy, due to its ability to decrease serum glucose levels, mainly by reducing hepatic gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis. A considerable number of studies have shown that metformin, besides its antidiabetic action, can improve other disease states, such as polycystic ovary disease, acute kidney injury, neurological disorders, cognitive impairment and renal damage. In addition, metformin is well known to suppress the growth and progression of different types of cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo. Accordingly, several epidemiological studies suggest that metformin is capable of lowering cancer risk and reducing the rate of cancer deaths among diabetic patients. The antitumoral effects of metformin have been proposed to be mainly mediated by the activation of the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). However, a number of signaling pathways, both dependent and independent of AMPK activation, have been reported to be involved in metformin antitumoral action. Among these, the Wingless and Int signaling pathway have recently been included. Here, we will focus our attention on the main molecular mechanisms involved.

Keywords: metformin; cancer; Wnt

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MDPI and ACS Style

Conza, D.; Mirra, P.; Fiory, F.; Insabato, L.; Nicolò, A.; Beguinot, F.; Ulianich, L. Metformin: A New Inhibitor of the Wnt Signaling Pathway in Cancer. Cells 2023, 12, 2182. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12172182

AMA Style

Conza D, Mirra P, Fiory F, Insabato L, Nicolò A, Beguinot F, Ulianich L. Metformin: A New Inhibitor of the Wnt Signaling Pathway in Cancer. Cells. 2023; 12(17):2182. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12172182

Chicago/Turabian Style

Conza, Domenico, Paola Mirra, Francesca Fiory, Luigi Insabato, Antonella Nicolò, Francesco Beguinot, and Luca Ulianich. 2023. "Metformin: A New Inhibitor of the Wnt Signaling Pathway in Cancer" Cells 12, no. 17: 2182. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12172182

APA Style

Conza, D., Mirra, P., Fiory, F., Insabato, L., Nicolò, A., Beguinot, F., & Ulianich, L. (2023). Metformin: A New Inhibitor of the Wnt Signaling Pathway in Cancer. Cells, 12(17), 2182. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12172182

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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Metformin: A New Inhibitor of the Wnt Signaling Pathway in Cancer

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