In this article, we introduced the background knowledge of lung cancer management and considered repurposing old drugs to overcome therapy bottleneck. We chose metformin to prove both its antihyperglycemia and antitumor formation effects. Based on the metformin-related AMPK-dependent pathway, we tried to explore the AMPK-independent pathway in inhibition of lung tumorigenesis by metformin. Using preclinical data mining from clinical settings with a literature review, we attempted to clarify the role of metformin in lung cancer management. Additional objective and strong evidence are needed using randomized control studies to verify the benefit of metformin in clinical practice. Furthermore, we proposed two lung cancer animal models and showed the establishment processes thoroughly. We hope that these two lung cancer animal models provide a useful platform for furthering old drug repurposing as well as new drug investigations in the future.
Part of the book: Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Lung Cancer