ReviewCancer management and research2018
Effects of metformin treatment on radiotherapy efficacy in patients with cancer and diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Review in Cancer management and research, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
26 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 51 citations in OpenAlex.
- Preventive and Therapeutic effects of Metformin in Cancer: A Meta- Analysis of RCT and Cohort Studies.Current cancer drug targets · 2026Pooled it
- Revisiting potential role of metformin in the circRNA-miRNA-mRNA axis: translational medicine perspectives in gastrointestinal cancer.Discover oncology · 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
- Survival and Radiotherapy-Related Adverse Events in Patients Receiving Radiotherapy and Concurrent Metformin: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials and Cohort Studies.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Suppression of cancer stem-like cell radioresistance by inhibiting AMPK signaling.Journal of radiation research · 2025Article
- Radiosensitizing Effects of Metformin on Ionizing Irradiation: An Overview of Animal and Clinical Studies.Current drug research reviews · 2025Review
- Metabolic-Modulating Effects of Radiation: Undetectable Yet Deadly-A Review on Radiotherapy.Cancers · 2024Review
- Inhibition of OXPHOS induces metabolic rewiring and reduces hypoxia in murine tumor models.Clinical and translational radiation oncology · 2024Article
- New evidence: Metformin unsuitable as routine adjuvant for breast cancer: a drug-target mendelian randomization analysis.BMC cancer · 2024Article
- Repurposing radiosensitising medicines for radiotherapy: an overview.BMJ oncology · 2024Review
- A Cross-Talk about Radioresistance in Lung Cancer-How to Improve Radiosensitivity According to Chinese Medicine and Medicaments That Commonly Occur in Pharmacies.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Metformin is a metabolic modulator and radiosensitiser in rectal cancer.Frontiers in oncology · 2023Article
- Unraveling Mitochondrial Determinants of Tumor Response to Radiation Therapy.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Metformin Protects the Intestinal Barrier by Activating Goblet Cell Maturation and Epithelial Proliferation in Radiation-Induced Enteropathy.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- RETRACTED: Metformin and Breast Cancer: Where Are We Now?International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Zebrafish Avatars of rectal cancer patients validate the radiosensitive effect of metformin.Frontiers in oncology · 2022Article
- Impact of Diabetes and Metformin Use on Enteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors: Post Hoc Analysis of the CLARINET Study.Cancers · 2021Article
- The Current and Potential Therapeutic Use of Metformin-The Good Old Drug.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- The Effect of Metformin on the Proliferation, Apoptosis and CD133 mRNA Expression of Colon Cancer Stem Cells by Upregulation of miR 342-3p.Drug design, development and therapy · 2021Article
- Metformin - a new approach.Pediatric endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeMetformin is a key pharmaceutical for patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). Metformin also can enhance tumor radiosensitivity in vitro and in vivo. Some retrospective cohort studies have indicated that metformin can improve the efficacy of radiotherapy in patients with cancer and DM. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the radiotherapy efficacy of metformin in patients with cancer and DM.
methodsMultiple databases were queried for studies that address the efficacy of metformin in radiotherapy of patients with cancer and DM. Studies were included that involved comparisons of the short-term tumor responses and long-term survival outcomes of these patients who were managed with or without metformin as well as of nondiabetic patients without metformin. The OR and HR with accompanying 95% CI were assessed in a random effects model. The main endpoints were 2-year and 5-year overall survival (2y-OS and 5y-OS, respectively).
resultsThe database search yielded 17 cohort studies that met the inclusion criteria. The results indicated that the tumor response was higher in patients who also were treated with metformin than in those who were not (OR, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.22-1.07;
conclusionMetformin appears to improve the tumor response to radiotherapy in patients with cancer and DM and partly yield survival benefits. Despite the apparent advantages provided by metformin treatment on 2y-OS and 5y-OS, these retrospective data are at risk of bias and should be interpreted with caution.
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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.