Phenformin activates ER stress to promote autophagic cell death via NIBAN1 and DDIT4 in oral squamous cell carcinoma independent of AMPK.

ABSTRACT: The efficient clinical treatment of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is still a challenge that demands the development of effective new drugs. Phenformin has been shown to produce more potent anti-tumor activities than metformin on different tumors, however, not much is known about the influence of phenformin on OSCC cells. We found that phenformin suppresses OSCC cell proliferation, and promotes OSCC cell autophagy and apoptosis to significantly inhibit OSCC cell growth both in vivo and in vitro. RNA-seq analysis revealed that autophagy pathways were the main targets of phenformin and identified two new targets DDIT4 (DNA damage inducible transcript 4) and NIBAN1 (niban apoptosis regulator 1). We found that phenformin significantly induces the expression of both DDIT4 and NIBAN1 to pro

SUBMITTER: Zhuang D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11079060 | biostudies-literature | 2024 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature