Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Jan;50(1):789-798.
doi: 10.1007/s11033-022-07954-5. Epub 2022 Nov 1.

Role of metformin in inflammation

Yu Yue Feng  1 , Zhengjie Wang  2 , Hua Pang  3
Affiliations
Review

Role of metformin in inflammation

Yu Yue Feng et al. Mol Biol Rep. 2023 Jan.

Abstract

Background: Metformin has good anti-hyperglycemic effectiveness, but does not induce hypoglycemia，is very safe, and has become the preferred drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Recently, the other effects of metformin, such as being anti-inflammatory and delaying aging, have also attracted increased attention.

Methods and results: The relevant literatures on pubmed and other websites for reading, classification and sorting, and did not involve any animal experiments.

Conclusion: Metformin has anti-inflammatory effects through multiple routes, which provides potential therapeutic targets for certain inflammatory diseases, such as neuroinflammation and rheumatoid arthritis. In addition, inflammation is a key component of tumor occurrence and development ; thus, targeted inflammatory intervention is a significant benefit for both cancer prevention and treatment. Therefore, metformin may have further potential for inflammation-related disease prevention and treatmen. However, the inflammatory mechanism is complex; various molecules are connected and influence each other. For example, metformin significantly inhibits p65 nuclear translocation, but pretreatment with compound C, an AMPK inhibitor, abolishes this effect, and silencing of HMGB1 inhibits NF-κB activation . SIRT1 deacetylates FoxO, increasing its transcriptional activity . mTOR in dendritic cells regulates FoxO1 via AKT. The interactions among various molecules should be further explored to clarify their specific mechanisms and provide more direction for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, as well as cancer.

Keywords: Anti-inflammation; Inflammatory cytokine; Mechanisms; Metformin.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. (1998) Effect of intensive blood-glucose control with metformin on complications in overweight patients with type 2 diabetes (UKPDS 34). UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) Group. Lancet. 352(9131): 854–865. (Erratum in: Lancet 1998 352(9139):1558)
    1. Holman R, Paul S, Bethel M, Matthews D, Neil H (2008) 10-year follow-up of intensive glucose control in type 2 diabetes. N Engl J Med 359:1577–1589. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa0806470 - DOI
    1. Evans JM, Donnelly LA, Emslie-Smith AM et al (2005) Metformin and reduced risk of cancer in diabetic patients. BMJ 330:1304–1305. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.38415.708634 - DOI
    1. Salvatore T, Pafundi PC, Galiero R, Rinaldi L, Caturano A, Vetrano E, Aprea C, Albanese G, Di Martino A, Ricozzi C, Imbriani S, Sasso FC (2020) Can metformin exert as an active drug on endothelial dysfunction in diabetic subjects?. Biomedicines 9(1):3. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines9010003
    1. Salvatore T, Galiero R, Caturano A, Vetrano E, Rinaldi L, Coviello F, Di Martino A, Albanese G, Marfella R, Sardu C, Sasso FC (2021) Effects of metformin in heart failure: from pathophysiological rationale to clinical evidence. Biomolecules 11(12):1834. https://doi.org/10.3390/biom11121834 - DOI

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources