Metformin protects against radiation

Scientists from Pushchino have discovered the radioprotective properties of metformin

Tatiana Perevyazova, Pushchino City Administration Metformin is an antidiabetic drug that also has an anti–carcinogenic, geroprotective effect and is used in combination with radiation therapy of tumors.

These pills have an affordable price, because they are produced by dozens of pharmaceutical factories competing with each other.

Researchers from the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences are studying the effect of metformin on the survival and frequency of cytogenetic damage in mouse bone marrow cells, as well as on the excretion of extracellular DNA in the urine of rats irradiated with X-rays. The results of their research are published in the July issue of the journal Mutation Research/Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis (Abdullaev et al., Metformin prolongs survival rate in mice and causes increased excess of cell-free DNA in the urine of X-irradiated rats).

Earlier, in the Laboratory of Radiation Molecular Biology of ITEB RAS, it was found that metformin promotes the removal of cells and cellular organelles with structural and functional abnormalities in old animals. Removal of damaged cells and dysfunctional organelles from tissues by activating the mechanisms of apoptosis and autophagy supports the health of the body under stressful conditions. Therefore, further, the team of authors of this Laboratory conducted work on the study of the survival and frequency of micronuclei in mice and the excretion of extracellular nuclear and mitochondrial DNA in urine in X-ray irradiated rats under the action of metformin. The results showed that metformin increases the survival of animals and reduces the frequency of micronuclei only when it is administered to mice after their irradiation and promotes the active removal of DNA (extracellular nuclear and mitochondrial DNA) of dying cells from the tissues of irradiated animals.

"The results of our experiments demonstrate the work of metformin as a "harvesting machine" contributing to the removal of dysfunctional cells from animal tissues, thereby ensuring increased survival after the action of ionizing radiation," the author of the article, researcher at the Laboratory of Radiation Molecular Biology, Candidate of Biological Sciences Serazhutdin Abdullayev told the press service of the ITEB RAS.

Graph from the article by Abdullaev et al. – VM.

Thus, it can be assumed that the increased excretion of extracellular DNA in the urine of irradiated rats, after the administration of metformin, is caused by the death of cells with structural and functional disorders. Metformin may contribute to the removal of more damaged cells from the tissues, which may be a potential source of malignant transformation or the development of other pathology.

The work was supported by the RFBR grant (No. 16-34-00832).

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