Assessing the antitumor effects of metformin on ovarian clear cell carcinoma

Developing novel therapies that outperform the existing chemotherapeutic treatments is required for treatment-resistant ovarian clear cell carcinoma. We investigated the antitumor effect of metformin on ovarian clear cell carcinoma, enhancement of the antitumor effect by its combination with chemotherapy, and its molecular regulatory mechanism. First, we evaluated the viability of ovarian clear cell carcinoma lines using the water-soluble tetrazolium-1 assay and found that metformin suppressed cell viability. Cell viability was significantly suppressed by co-treatment with cisplatin and metformin. In contrast, co-treatment with paclitaxel and metformin showed no significant difference in viability compared with the group without metformin. Western blot analysis showed increased phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase and suppressed phosphorylation of the mammalian target of rapamycin. Flow cytometry analysis revealed a significant increase in the rate of apoptosis in the metformin-treated group and rate of cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase. These results indicated that metformin may be effective against cultured ovarian clear cell carcinoma cells, particularly in combination with cisplatin.