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Studies in mammals have led to the suggestion that hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia are important factors both in aging and in the development of cancer. It is possible that the life-prolonging effects of calorie restriction are due to decreasing IGF-1 levels. A search of pharmacological modulators of insulin/IGF-1 signaling pathway (which resemble effects of life span extending mutations or calorie restriction) could be a perspective direction in regulation of longevity. Antidiabetic biguanides are most promising among them. Here we show the chronic treatment of female outbred SHR mice with metformin (100 mg/kg in drinking water) slightly modified the food consumption but decreased the body weight after the age of 20 months, slowed down the age-related switch-off of estrous function, increased mean life span by 37.8%, mean life span of last 10% survivors by 20.8%, and maximum life span by 2.8 months (+10.3%) in comparison with control mice. On the other side, treatment with metformin failed influence blood estradiol concentration and spontaneous tumor incidence in female SHR mice. Thus, antidiabetic biguanide metformin dramatically extends life span, even without cancer prevention in this model.

Hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia accelerate both aging and cancer. Antidiabetic biguanides such as metformin decrease glucose, insulin and IGF-1 level. Metformin increases lifespan and prevents cancer in mice, although its effects vary, depending on mice strain and gender. Here we showed that chronic treatment of female outbred SHR mice with metformin started at the age of 3, 9 or 15 months decreased body temperature and postponed age-related switch-off of estrous function. Surprisingly, metformin did not affect levels of serum cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose and insulin. Treatment with metformin started at the age of 3 months increased mean life span by 14% and maximum life span by 1 month. The treatment started at the age of 9 months insignificantly increased mean life span by only 6%, whereas the treatment started at the age of 15 months failed to increase life span. The mean life span of tumor-free mice was increased by 21% in ‘the youngest group’, by 7% in ‘middle-aged group’ and in contrast was reduced by 13% in ‘the oldest group’. When started at the age of 3 and 9 months, metformin delayed the first tumor detection by 22% and 25%, correspondingly. Thus, in female SHR mice, metformin increased life span and postponed tumors when started at the young and middle but not at the old age. In contrast, metformin improves reproductive function when started at any age.

Aging is associated with obesity and cancer. Calorie restriction both slows down aging and delays cancer. Evidence has emerged that the nutrient-sensing mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway is involved in cellular and organismal aging. Here we show that the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin prevents age-related weight gain, decreases rate of aging, increases lifespan, and suppresses carcinogenesis in transgenic HER-2/neu cancer-prone mice. Rapamycin dramatically delayed tumor onset as well as decreased the number of tumors per animal and tumor size. We suggest that, by slowing down organismal aging, rapamycin delays cancer.

Autophagy is a catabolic process involved in the turnover of organelles and macromolecules which, depending on conditions, may lead to cell death or preserve cell survival. We found that some lung cancer cell lines and tumor samples are characterized by increased levels of lipidated LC3. Inhibition of autophagy sensitized non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) cells to cisplatin-induced apoptosis; however, such response was attenuated in cells treated with etoposide. Inhibition of autophagy stimulated ROS formation and treatment with cisplatin had a synergistic effect on ROS accumulation. Using genetically encoded hydrogen peroxide probes directed to intracellular compartments we found that autophagy inhibition facilitated formation of hydrogen peroxide in the cytosol and mitochondria of cisplatin-treated cells. The enhancement of cell death under conditions of inhibited autophagy was partially dependent on caspases, however, antioxidant NAC or hydroxyl radical scavengers, but not the scavengers of superoxide or a MnSOD mimetic, reduced the release of cytochrome c and abolished the sensitization of the cells to cisplatin-induced apoptosis. Such inhibition of ROS prevented the processing and release of AIF (apoptosis-inducing factor) and HTRA2 from mitochondria. Furthermore, suppression of autophagy in NSCLC cells with active basal autophagy reduced their proliferation without significant effect on the cell-cycle distribution. Inhibition of cell proliferation delayed accumulation of cells in the S phase upon treatment with etoposide that could attenuate the execution stage of etoposide-induced apoptosis. These findings suggest that autophagy suppression leads to inhibition of NSCLC cell proliferation and sensitizes them to cisplatininduced caspase-dependent and -independent apoptosis by stimulation of ROS formation.

(2010) Metformin extends life span of HER-2/neu transgenic mice and in combination with melatonin inhibits growth of transplantable tumors in vivo, Cell Cycle, 9:1,[188][189][190][191][192][193][194][195][196][197]

Studies in mammals have led to the suggestion that hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia are important factors both in aging and in the development of cancer. It is possible that the life-prolonging effects of calorie restriction are due to decreasing IGF-1 levels. A search of pharmacological modulators of insulin/IGF-1 signaling pathway (which mimetic effects of life span extending mutations or calorie restriction) could be a perspective direction in regulation of longevity. Antidiabetic biguanides are most promising among them. The chronic treatment of inbred 129/Sv mice with metformin (100 mg/kg in drinking water) slightly modified the food consumption but failed to influence the dynamics of body weight, decreased by 13.4% the mean life span of male mice and slightly increased the mean life span of female mice (by 4.4%). The treatment with metformin failed influence spontaneous tumor incidence in male 129/Sv mice, decreased by 3.5 times the incidence of malignant neoplasms in female mice while somewhat stimulated formation of benign vascular tumors in the latter.