Frontiers in anti-cancer drug discovery: Challenges and perspectives of metformin as anti-angiogenic add-on therapy in glioblastoma

Abstract

Glioblastoma is the most common primitive tumor in adult central nervous system (CNS), classified as grade IV according to WHO 2016 classification. Glioblastoma shows a poor prognosis with an average survival of approximately 15 months, representing an extreme therapeutic challenge. One of its distinctive and aggressive features is aberrant angiogenesis, which drives tumor neovas-cularization, representing a promising candidate for molecular target therapy. Although several pre-clinical studies and clinical trials have shown promising results, anti-angiogenic drugs have not led to a significant improvement in overall survival (OS), suggesting the necessity of identifying novel therapeutic strategies. Metformin, an anti-hyperglycemic drug of the Biguanides family, used as first line treatment in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), has demonstrated in vitro and in vivo antitumoral efficacy in many different tumors, including glioblastoma. From this evidence, a process of repurposing of the drug has begun, leading to the demonstration of inhibition of various onco-promoter mechanisms and, consequently, to the identification of the molecular pathways involved. Here, we review and discuss metformin’s potential antitumoral effects on glioblastoma, inspecting if it could properly act as an anti-angiogenic compound to be considered as a safely add-on therapy in the treatment and management of glioblastoma patients.