- Park, Jun;
- Jung, Kwang;
- Jia, Dongya;
- Yang, Sukjin;
- Attri, Kuldeep;
- Ahn, Songyeon;
- Murthy, Divya;
- Samanta, Tagari;
- Dutta, Debasmita;
- Ghidey, Meron;
- Chatterjee, Somik;
- Han, Seung;
- Pedroza, Diego;
- Tiwari, Abha;
- Lee, Joyce;
- Davis, Caitlin;
- Li, Shuting;
- Putluri, Vasanta;
- Creighton, Chad;
- Putluri, Nagireddy;
- Dobrolecki, Lacey;
- Lewis, Michael;
- Rosen, Jeffrey;
- Onuchic, José;
- Goga, Andrei;
- Kaipparettu, Benny
The biguanide metformin attenuates mitochondrial oxidation and is proposed as an anti-cancer therapy. However, recent clinical studies suggest increased proliferation and fatty acid β-oxidation (FAO) in a subgroup of patients with breast cancer (BC) after metformin therapy. Considering that FAO can activate Src kinase in aggressive triple-negative BC (TNBC), we postulate that low-dose biguanide-driven AMPK-ACC-FAO signaling may activate the Src pathway in TNBC. The low bioavailability of metformin in TNBC xenografts mimics metformins in vitro low-dose effect. Pharmacological or genetic inhibition of FAO significantly enhances the anti-tumor properties of biguanides. Lower doses of biguanides induce and higher doses suppress Src signaling. Dasatinib and metformin synergistically inhibit TNBC patient-derived xenograft growth, but not in high-fat diet-fed mice. This combination also suppresses TNBC metastatic progression. A combination of biguanides with Src inhibitors provides synergy to target metastatic TNBC suffering with limited treatment options.