Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers among men, and researchers are always searching for better ways to treat it.
Now, a team of scientists from Columbia University has discovered that a common diabetes drug, metformin, could be a powerful tool in slowing down the progression of certain types of prostate cancer.
Their findings, led by Dr. Alex Papachristodoulou and published in a recent study, could change how doctors manage early-stage prostate cancer in the future.
Metformin is a well-known drug that has been used for decades to treat Type 2 diabetes. It helps control blood sugar levels and is generally considered safe and affordable.
But what researchers have now discovered is that metformin might also be effective against prostate cancer, particularly in tumors that have low levels of a protein called NKX3.1.
NKX3.1 is important because it plays a role in protecting prostate cells from becoming cancerous. When levels of this protein are low, prostate tumors tend to be more aggressive and harder to treat.
The Columbia University study found that metformin seems to work best on these types of tumors. It restores the activity of mitochondria—the parts of cells that produce energy—which is often impaired in low-NKX3.1 tumors. By fixing this problem, metformin helps slow down the growth of cancer cells.
To test their theory, the researchers experimented with mice that had prostate cancer with low levels of NKX3.1. The results were promising: metformin significantly slowed the progression of the cancer. Even more encouraging, patient data showed that men with low-NKX3.1 tumors who took metformin had better survival rates.
This is particularly important for men diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer. Many men in this situation have low-grade tumors that doctors typically monitor without immediate treatment.
This approach is called “active surveillance,” and it’s used because many prostate cancers grow so slowly that they never cause major problems. However, some of these low-grade tumors can become aggressive over time, and that’s where metformin could make a big difference.
Dr. Cory Abate-Shen, chair of the Department of Molecular Pharmacology & Therapeutics at Columbia University, explained that metformin could be especially useful for patients under surveillance who have high-risk tumors. Since metformin is safe and inexpensive, it could be given early to prevent cancer from progressing to a more dangerous stage.
The findings are so promising that the research team is already planning clinical trials to test metformin on men who are newly diagnosed with prostate cancer.
If these trials are successful, it could mean that metformin becomes a standard part of early prostate cancer treatment. This would be a big step forward because it would provide doctors with a safe, cost-effective way to slow down or even stop the cancer from getting worse.
There is also hope that metformin could help close the gap in prostate cancer outcomes among different populations. For example, Black men are statistically more likely to develop aggressive forms of prostate cancer. Using metformin as a preventive treatment could help reduce these disparities, offering better protection against cancer progression.
The idea of repurposing an old, trusted medication like metformin for cancer treatment is not entirely new, but this study provides some of the strongest evidence yet that it could be effective. Because metformin is already widely available and well-understood, it would be much easier to bring it into cancer treatment compared to developing brand-new drugs.
In summary, the research from Columbia University offers new hope for fighting prostate cancer, especially for men diagnosed in the early stages. By focusing on tumors with low levels of NKX3.1, scientists have found a potential way to stop cancer from growing before it becomes life-threatening.
The next step is to confirm these findings through clinical trials, but the outlook is promising. If successful, metformin could become a powerful tool in the fight against prostate cancer, offering a safe and affordable option for those at risk.
If you care about prostate cancer, please read studies about 5 types of bacteria linked to aggressive prostate cancer, and new strategy to treat advanced prostate cancer.
For more information about prostate cancer, please see recent studies about new way to lower risk of prostate cancer spread, and results showing three-drug combo boosts survival in metastatic prostate cancer.
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