Study of metformin effects in mTOR/S6Ks signal transduction pathway in lung cancer cells

Over the past few years, the mTOR signal transduction pathway has been associated to the control of body energy balance, acting as a sensor of the amount of nutrients available or a trigger for the expense or storage of energy. The S6Ks proteins have shown an important role in the mTOR signaling, working as effectors of this signaling pathway, although there are still questions not answered. Among the diseases related to obesity, as well as to the control or dysfunction of the mTOR/S6Ks pathway, cancer may be highlighted, whose incidence in obese is clearly higher. Metformin has been used in the treatment of type II diabetes, but many reports in the literature indicate its importance also as a drug against cancer. This research project aimed to study the effects of metformin treatment in the mTOR/S6Ks signaling pathway in A549 lung cancer cells. Our results show that metformin is able to reduce the mTOR pathway signaling even after treatment of cells with a low dose of cisplatin, which may induce lung cancer resistance.