  In this research, we investigated the efficacy of Metformin, the most
commonly administered type-2 diabetes drug for triple negative breast cancer
(TNBC) treatment, due to its various anticancer properties. It is a plant-based
bio-compound, synthesized as a novel biguanide, called dimethyl biguanide or
metformin. One of the ways it operates is by hindering electron transport
chain-complex I, in mitochondria, which causes a drop-in energy (ATP)
generation. This eventually builds energetic stress and a decline in energy.
Therefore, the natural cellular processes and proliferating tumor cells are
obstructed. Here, we used electroporation, where, the MDA-MB-231, human TNBC
cells were subjected to high intensity, short-duration electrical pulses (EP)
in the presence of Metformin. The cell viability results indicate lower cell
viability of 43.45% as compared to 85.20% with drug alone at 5mM concentration.
This indicates that Metformin, the most common diabetes drug could also be
explored for cancer treatment.
