Anti-diabetic drug phenformin may prompt stronger cancer-fighting activities
The anti-diabetic drug phenformin may prompt stronger cancer-fighting activities than its sister compound metformin, a finding that could have major implications for current and future clinical trials investigating both agents for their anti-cancer potential, according to researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).
In a review article in
Trends in Cancer, the team presented evidence that immunotherapies such as immune checkpoint inhibitors (which enable T cells to attack and kill cancer cells) in combination with phenformin may also be a promising way to repurpose this diabetic drug as an anti-cancer agent.
Metformin was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1995 and has since become the most prescribed drug for diabetes in the United States.
Diabetes Drug Holds Promise in Combatting Cancer by Angela Mohan on April 15, 2021 at 3:43 PM
In a review article in
Trends in Cancer, the team presented evidence that immunotherapies such as immune checkpoint inhibitors (which enable T cells to attack and kill cancer cells) in combination with phenformin may also be a promising way to repurpose this diabetic drug as an anti-cancer agent.
Metformin was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1995 and has since become the most prescribed drug for diabetes in the United States.
Phenformin was started prescribing for type 2 diabetes in the 1950s but was withdrawn from use in the late 1970s due lactic acidosis.
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Apr 7, 2021
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) Massachusetts General Hospital released a new study proving why redheads have a different pain tolerance.
The researchers found that the pigment-producing cells of the skin called melanocytes contain a variant form of the melanocortin 1 receptor.
So, their findings confirm that redheads skin cells do not function the same way as others. These findings describe the mechanistic basis behind earlier evidence suggesting varied pain thresholds in different pigmentation backgrounds, the director of Cutaneous Biology Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital Dr. David E. Fisher said.
These cells are the same reason why people with red hair burn so easily and cannot tan.
Studies in Mice Help to Explain Why Redheads Have Different Pain Thresholds
April 6, 2021
Source: Photo by Colton Sturgeon on Unsplash
New research led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has offered up new insights into why people with red hair exhibit altered sensitivity to certain kinds of pain. The results of studies in mice with loss of melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) function could help point to new ways to manipulate the body’s natural mechanisms for controlling pain perception, for example, by designing new medications that inhibit receptors that are involved in sensing pain.
“Our ongoing work is focused on elucidating how additional skin-derived signals regulate pain and opioid signaling,” said Lajos V. Kemény, MD, PhD, a research fellow in Dermatology at MGH, who is co-senior author of the team’s paper, in