Metformin synergistically enhances antiproliferative effects of cisplatin and etoposide in NCI-H460 human lung cancer cells

• Autor(a) principal: Teixeira,Sarah Fernandes
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Outros Autores: Guimarães,Isabella dos Santos, Madeira,Klesia Pirola, Daltoé,Renata Dalmaschio, Silva,Ian Victor, Rangel,Leticia Batista Azevedo
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Jornal Brasileiro de Pneumologia (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1806-37132013000600644
• topic: Carcinoma, non-small-cell lung; Drug therapy, combination; Metformin

OBJECTIVE: To test the effectiveness of combining conventional antineoplastic drugs (cisplatin and etoposide) with metformin in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer in the NCI-H460 cell line, in order to develop new therapeutic options with high efficacy and low toxicity.METHODS: We used the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and calculated the combination index for the drugs studied.RESULTS: We found that the use of metformin as monotherapy reduced the metabolic viability of the cell line studied. Combining metformin with cisplatin or etoposide produced a synergistic effect and was more effective than was the use of cisplatin or etoposide as monotherapy.CONCLUSIONS: Metformin, due to its independent effects on liver kinase B1, had antiproliferative effects on the NCI-H460 cell line. When metformin was combined with cisplatin or etoposide, the cell death rate was even higher.