Combo with anti-diabetes drug found effective against cancerAn anti-diabetes drug reduced tumors faster and prolonged remission further than chemotherapy when tested on mice, apparently by targeting cancer stem cells Cancer stem cell hypothesis states that tumors arise from cells termed cancer stem cells that have properties of adult stem cells, particularly the abilities to self-renew and differentiate into multiple cell types, and that these cells persist in tumors as a distinct population , a new report by Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is one of the graduate schools of Harvard University. It is a prestigious American medical school located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. found. The report, published Monday in the online journal Cancer Research, argued that the drug metformin metformin /met·for·min/ (met-for´min) an antihyperglycemic agent that potentiates the action of insulin, used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. met·for·min n. may improve breast cancer outcomes in people. "We have found a compound selective for cancer stem cells," said senior author Kevin Struhl, a professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at Harvard Medical School. "What's different is that ours is a first-line diabetes drug." In this study, the diabetes drug seemed to work independently of its ability to improve insulin sensitivity insulin sensitivity The systemic responsiveness to glucose, which can be measured by 1. The insulin sensitivity index–measures the ability of endogenous insulin to ↓ glucose in extracellular fluids by inhibiting glucose release from the liver and and lower blood sugar and insulin levels, all of which are also associated with better breast cancer outcomes. The combination of metformin and the cancer drug doxorubicin doxorubicin /doxo·ru·bi·cin/ (dok?so-roo´bi-sin) an antineoplastic antibiotic, produced by Streptomyces peucetius, which binds to DNA and inhibits nucleic acid synthesis; used as the hydrochloride salt and as a liposome-encased killed human cancer stem cells and non-stem cancer cells cells once believed to be peculiar to cancers, but now know to be epithelial cells differing in no respect from those found elsewhere in the body, and distinguished only by peculiarity of location and grouping. See also: Cancer in culture, the report said. The researchers used four genetically distinct breast cancer cell lines. In mice, pretreatment pretreatment, n the protocols required before beginning therapy, usually of a diagnostic nature; before treatment. pretreatment estimate, n See predetermination. with the diabetes drug prevented the otherwise dramatic ability of human breast cancer stem cells to form tumors. In other mice where tumors were allowed to take hold for 10 days, the dual therapy also reduced tumor mass more quickly and prevented relapse for longer than doxorubicin alone, accordign to the study. In the two months between the end of treatment and the end of the experiment, tumors regrew in mice treated with chemotherapy alone, but not in mice that had received both drugs. By itself, metformin was ineffective in treating tumors. "There is a big desire to find drugs specific to cancer stem cells," Struhl explained. "The cancer stem cell hypothesis says you cannot cure cancer unless you also get rid of the cancer stem cells. From a purely practical point of view, this could be tested in humans. It's already used as a first-line diabetes drug." 
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