Honors Theses

Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Biomolecular Sciences

First Advisor

Dale Nagle

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

Phenformin and metformin are compounds that are currently used to treat Type II Diabetes and have been shown to suppress breast cancer metastasis. These compounds were tested, after extensive research and screening of current approved oncology drugs, in various experiments with the cell lines MDA-MB-231, LM, and BoM, with MDA-MB-231 being the parental cell line, LM being the lung metastatic line, and BoM being the bone metastatic line. The cells were treated with compound addition at various concentrations and subject to a two-day concentration response viability study in order to determine any inhibitory effects, followed by a five-day assay in order to determine the effect of extended exposure duration. Phenformin was found to act inconsistently at physiologically relevant concentrations. Metformin, however, showed significant increases in inhibitory effects when the cells were exposed to the compound for a longer duration. Clonogenic assays were performed to confirm the inhibitory effects of the compounds. Further pharmacology research needs to be completed, but both compounds show potential to serve as an antimetastatic therapeutic treatment option and thus improve the prognosis of breast cancer patients.

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