1. New evidence: Metformin unsuitable as routine adjuvant for breast cancer: a drug-target mendelian randomization analysis.
- Author
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Xu JX, Zhu QL, Bi YM, and Peng YC
- Subjects
- Humans, Female, Chemotherapy, Adjuvant methods, Hypoglycemic Agents therapeutic use, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Metformin therapeutic use, Metformin pharmacology, Breast Neoplasms genetics, Breast Neoplasms drug therapy, Mendelian Randomization Analysis, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 drug therapy, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 genetics, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 complications, Genome-Wide Association Study
- Abstract
Purpose: The potential efficacy of metformin in breast cancer (BC) has been hotly discussed but never conclusive. This genetics-based study aimed to evaluate the relationships between metformin targets and BC risk., Methods: Metformin targets from DrugBank and genome-wide association study (GWAS) data from IEU OpenGWAS and FinnGen were used to investigate the breast cancer (BC)-metformin causal link with various Mendelian Randomization (MR) methods (e.g., inverse-variance-weighting). The genetic association between type 2 diabetes (T2D) and the drug target of metformin was also analyzed as a positive control. Sensitivity and pleiotropic tests ensured reliability., Results: The primary targets of metformin are PRKAB1, ETFDH and GPD1L. We found a causal association between PRKAB1 and T2D (odds ratio [OR] 0.959, P = 0.002), but no causal relationship was observed between metformin targets and overall BC risk (PRKAB1: OR 0.990, P = 0.530; ETFDH: OR 0.986, P = 0.592; GPD1L: OR 1.002, P = 0.806). A noteworthy causal relationship was observed between ETFDH and estrogen receptor (ER)-positive BC (OR 0.867, P = 0.018), and between GPD1L and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative BC (OR 0.966, P = 0.040). Other group analyses did not yield positive results., Conclusion: The star target of metformin, PRKAB1, does not exhibit a substantial causal association with the risk of BC. Conversely, metformin, acting as an inhibitor of ETFDH and GPD1L, may potentially elevate the likelihood of developing ER-positive BC and HER2-negative BC. Consequently, it is not advisable to employ metformin as a standard supplementary therapy for BC patients without T2D., (© 2024. The Author(s).)
- Published
- 2024
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