ArticleOncotarget2016
Repurposing phenformin for the targeting of glioma stem cells and the treatment of glioblastoma.
Article in Oncotarget, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 70 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
70 citing papers in PubMed.
- Fatty Acid Metabolism Rewires Glioblastoma Progression and Treg-Mediated Immune Resistance.Cancers · 2026Review
- Brain-Targeted Delivery of Phenformin Using Phospholipid and Non-Phospholipid Vesicles for SHH Medulloblastoma.Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- bayesReact: expression-coupled regulatory motif analysis detects microRNA activity across cancers, tissues, and at the single-cell level.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- A Comprehensive Analysis of Natural Bioactive Molecules for the Treatment and Control of Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) Targeting Underlying Molecular Mechanism.Chemistry & biodiversity · 2026Review
- Metabolic reprogramming in diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPG): dual inhibition of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation and lactate metabolism to enhance anti-tumor and radiosensitizing effects in DIPG cells.Cancer & metabolism · 2025Article
- Review
- Article
- Targeting AMPK for Cancer Therapy: Metabolic Reprogramming as a Therapeutic Strategy.Oncology research · 2025Review
- Targeting metabolic reprogramming in glioblastoma as a new strategy to overcome therapy resistance.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2025Review
- Clinical research framework proposal for ketogenic metabolic therapy in glioblastoma.BMC medicine · 2024Review
- Progress in antitumor mechanisms and applications of phenformin (Review).Oncology reports · 2024Review
- A Systematic Review of Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles: A Potential Treatment for Glioblastoma.Brain sciences · 2024Review
- Therapeutic targeting of differentiation-state dependent metabolic vulnerabilities in diffuse midline glioma.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Dichloroacetate for Cancer Treatment: Some Facts and Many Doubts.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Dynamics of Mitochondrial Proteome and Acetylome in Glioblastoma Cells with Contrasting Metabolic Phenotypes.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Glioblastoma stem cell long non-coding RNAs: therapeutic perspectives and opportunities.Frontiers in genetics · 2024Review
- Metformin and its potential influence on cell fate decision between apoptosis and senescence in cancer, with a special emphasis on glioblastoma.Frontiers in oncology · 2024Review
- Mitoribosomal synthetic lethality overcomes multidrug resistance in MYC-driven neuroblastoma.Cell death & disease · 2023Article
- Article
- Recent advances in the role of miRNAs in post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Review
10 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive primary brain tumor with poor prognosis. Here, we studied the effects of phenformin, a mitochondrial complex I inhibitor and more potent chemical analog of the diabetes drug metformin on the inhibition of cell growth and induction of apoptosis of glioma stem cells (GSCs) using both in vitro and in vivo models. Phenformin inhibited the self-renewal of GSCs, decreased the expression of stemness and mesenchymal markers and increased the expression of miR-124, 137 and let-7. Silencing of let-7 abrogated phenformin effects on the self-renewal of GSCs via a pathway associated with inhibition of H19 and HMGA2 expression. Moreover, we demonstrate that phenformin inhibited tumor growth and prolonged the overall survival of mice orthotopically transplanted with GSCs. Combined treatments of phenformin and temozolomide exerted an increased antitumor effect on GSCs in vitro and in vivo. In addition, dichloroacetate, an inhibitor of the glycolysis enzyme pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase, that decreases lactic acidosis induced by biguanides, enhanced phenformin effects on the induction of cell death in GSCs and prolonged the survival of xenograft-bearing mice. Our results demonstrate for the first time that phenformin targets GSCs and can be efficiently combined with current therapies for GBM treatment and GSC eradication.
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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.