Metformin may improve immunotherapy efficacy in obese lung cancer patients: Study

After a lobectomy, metformin is linked to a higher recurrence-free survival rate in overweight patients. Also, it reversed many pathways of immune suppression exacerbated by obesity and corrected increased tumor development in diet-induced obese mice models in a lymphocyte-specific manner.

Programmed cell death 1 blocking in conjunction with metformin correlate with progression-free survival, and it was more successful in reducing tumor burden in fat mice in overweight individuals receiving immunotherapy. This phase 2 clinical research assessed the ability of the drug to prevent lung cancer in overweight or obese individuals who are at high risk for the illness, based on their preclinical and clinical data.

One of the most commonly available and reasonably priced medications of any sort, metformin has been in use for 30 years and has a lengthy history of safety. Metformin may increase the effectiveness of immunotherapy in this expanding demographic and improve lung cancer-specific clinical outcomes in individuals who are fat or overweight. Overall, this study clarifies the underlying immunological phenomena and finds obesity as a possible predictive biomarker of metformin's anticancer and immunotherapy-enhancing effects in lung cancer.

Reference:

Smith, R. J., Jr., Zollo, R., Kalvapudi, S., Vedire, Y., Pachimatla, A. G., Petrucci, C., Shaller, G., Washington, D., Rr, V., Sass, S. N., Srinivasan, A., Kannisto, E., Bawek, S., Jain, P., Rosario, S., Barbi, J., & Yendamuri, S. (2024). Obesity-Specific improvement of lung cancer outcomes and immunotherapy efficacy with metformin. In JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Oxford University Press (OUP). https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djae295