Targeting cancer cell metabolism: The combination of metformin and 2-Deoxyglucose regulates apoptosis in ovarian cancer cells via p38 MAPK/JNK signaling pathway.

Targeting cancer cell metabolism is a new promising strategy to fight cancer. Metformin, a first-line treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus, exerts anti-cancer and anti-proliferative action. 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG), a glucose analog, works as a competitive inhibitor of glycolysis. In this study, we show for the first time that metformin in combination with 2-DG inhibited growth, migration, invasion and induced cell cycle arrest of ovarian cancer cells in vitro. Moreover, metformin and 2-DG could efficiently induce apoptosis in ovarian cancer cells, which was achieved by activating p38 MAPK and JNK pathways. Our study reinforces the growing interest of metabolic interference in cancer therapy and highlights the potential use of the combination of metformin and 2-DG as an anti-tumor treatment in ovarian cancer.