Impact of Pretreatment With Metformin on Colorectal Cancer Stem Cells (CCSC) and Related Pharmacodynamic Markers
Status:
Terminated
Trial end date:
2012-10-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Metformin is drug that is normally used to treat people with diabetes. New research has
discovered that metformin may also kill cancer stem cells. These cancer stem cells make up
only a small portion of a cancer, but may be responsible for resistance to chemotherapy or
for causing recurrence of the cancer. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of
metformin on colorectal cancer tumors. The study is designed to develop the methods to test
tumors for cancer stem cells and then to determine the difference between treating with
metformin and not treating with metformin with regard to the cancer stem cells. This research
is investigational because the effect of metformin on cancer stem cells is not known in
humans. Also, in patients who are not diabetic, metformin would normally not be given prior
to surgery.