ArticleBMC biology2014
Understanding the complex-I-ty of metformin action: limiting mitochondrial respiration to improve cancer therapy.
Article in BMC biology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 61 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
61 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 104 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Potential Effect of Metformin on Cancer: An Umbrella Review.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2019Pooled it
- Association of metformin intake with bladder cancer risk and oncologic outcomes in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Medicine · 2018 · on this mapPooled it
- Mitochondrial metabolism determines chemotherapy sensitivity in colorectal cancer.Nature metabolism · 2026Article
- Metformin's disruption of gluconeogenesis in type 2 diabetes impairments of the cori and alanine cycles as hidden drivers of metabolic waste accumulation, NF-κBHIF-1α-mediated low-grade inflammation, and multisystem dysfunction.Problemy endokrinologii · 2026Review
- p53 and p21 Status Influences Cellular Response to Metformin inCurrent issues in molecular biology · 2026Article
- Hyperlactatemia and pulmonary gas exchange at rest and during exercise: lessons from patients on metformin.European journal of applied physiology · 2026Article
- Article
- Molecular Insights into the Interaction Between Metformin and Caffeine: The Time-Dependent Antagonism and Modulation of p53 Signaling in Cancer Cells.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Inflammageing and clonal haematopoiesis interplay and their impact on human disease.Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology · 2026Review
- Metformin treatment impairs the adenine nucleotide translocator activity and energy metabolism in human clear cell renal carcinoma cells.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Loss of CD90 alters EMT-associated features and drug sensitivity in U-CH1 chordoma cells.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Article
- Article
- Metformin-Induced Apoptosis Is Mediated Through Mitochondrial VDAC1.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Nutritional status and gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms: lights and shadows with a clinical guide from the NIKE Group.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2025Review
- Targeting lipophagy and nuclear receptors in metabolic-associated fatty liver disease: insights from traditional Chinese medicine.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Review
- Effects of Biguanide-PROTACs in Pancreatic Cancer Cells.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- A Rare Case of Metformin-Induced Lactic Acidosis and Concomitant Euglycemic Ketoacidosis.Cureus · 2024Article
- Mitochondria: a new intervention target for tumor invasion and metastasis.Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2024Review
- Interplay between altered metabolism and DNA damage and repair in ovarian cancer.BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology · 2024Review
- Just a spoonful of metformin helps the medicine go down.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2024Article
1 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Metformin has been a first-line treatment for type II diabetes mellitus for decades and is the most widely prescribed antidiabetic drug. Retrospective studies have found that metformin treatment is associated with both reduced cancer diagnoses and cancer-related deaths. Despite the prevalence of metformin use in the clinic, its molecular mechanism of action remains controversial. In a recent issue of Cancer & Metabolism, Andrzejewski et al. present evidence that metformin acts directly on mitochondria to inhibit complex I and limits the ability of cancer cells to cope with energetic stress. Here, we discuss evidence that supports the role of metformin as a cancer therapeutic.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.