Metformin: Targeting the Metabolo-Epigenetic Link in Cancer Biology

Bibliographic Details
Title: Metformin: Targeting the Metabolo-Epigenetic Link in Cancer Biology
Authors: Elisabet Cuyàs, Sara Verdura, Begoña Martin-Castillo, Javier A. Menendez
Source: Frontiers in Oncology, Vol 10 (2021)
Publisher Information: Frontiers Media S.A., 2021.
Publication Year: 2021
Collection: LCC:Neoplasms. Tumors. Oncology. Including cancer and carcinogens
Subject Terms: metformin, metabolism, epigenetics, chromatin, cancer, diet, Neoplasms. Tumors. Oncology. Including cancer and carcinogens, RC254-282
More Details: Metabolism can directly drive or indirectly enable an aberrant chromatin state of cancer cells. The physiological and molecular principles of the metabolic link to epigenetics provide a basis for pharmacological modulation with the anti-diabetic biguanide metformin. Here, we briefly review how metabolite-derived chromatin modifications and the metabolo-epigenetic machinery itself are both amenable to modification by metformin in a local and a systemic manner. First, we consider the capacity of metformin to target global metabolic pathways or specific metabolic enzymes producing chromatin-modifying metabolites. Second, we examine its ability to directly or indirectly fine-tune the activation status of chromatin-modifying enzymes. Third, we envision how the interaction between metformin, diet and gut microbiota might systemically regulate the metabolic inputs to chromatin. Experimental and clinical validation of metformin’s capacity to change the functional outcomes of the metabolo-epigenetic link could offer a proof-of-concept to therapeutically test the metabolic adjustability of the epigenomic landscape of cancer.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 2234-943X
Relation: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fonc.2020.620641/full; https://doaj.org/toc/2234-943X
DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2020.620641
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/606f28326ee14f8b9a3c23043e8cc37f
Accession Number: edsdoj.606f28326ee14f8b9a3c23043e8cc37f
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:2234943X
DOI:10.3389/fonc.2020.620641
Published in:Frontiers in Oncology
Language:English