Metformin and phenformin deplete tricarboxylic acid cycle and glycolytic intermediates during cell transformation and NTPs in cancer stem cells.

ABSTRACT: Metformin, a first-line diabetes drug linked to cancer prevention in retrospective clinical analyses, inhibits cellular transformation and selectively kills breast cancer stem cells (CSCs). Although a few metabolic effects of metformin and the related biguanide phenformin have been investigated in established cancer cell lines, the global metabolic impact of biguanides during the process of neoplastic transformation and in CSCs is unknown. Here, we use LC/MS/MS metabolomics (>200 metabolites) to assess metabolic changes induced by metformin and phenformin in an Src-inducible model of cellular transformation and in mammosphere-derived breast CSCs. Although phenformin is the more potent biguanide in both systems, the metabolic profiles of these drugs are remarkably similar, although not iden

SUBMITTER: Janzer A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4115496 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature