Talk:Phenformin

Retardo
I searched "Retardo" and was redirected to this page.. ????? 72.84.76.17 (talk) 22:51, 30 July 2014 (UTC)
 * A Google search suggests that "Retardo" is a brand name drug that contains phenformin.

The identifying numbers on the article (CAS, etc) are for phenformin. The "Chemistry and Pharmacokinetics" section discusses phenformin hydrochloride, which has different identifying numbers. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.193.84.250 (talk) 17:37, 23 March 2015 (UTC)

anticancer section
Formerly the anticancer was a work of WP:OR, picking and choosing this and that primary source to tell a story. This is not how we edit WP. Here is the section as it was:

Phenformin, along with buformin and metformin, inhibits the growth and development of cancer. Respective studies were initiated by Vladimir Dilman (see f.e.     The anticancer property of these drugs may be due to their ability to disrupt the Warburg effect and revert the cytosolic glycolysis characteristic of cancer cells to normal oxidation of pyruvate by the mitochondria. Metformin reduces liver glucose production in diabetics and disrupts the Warburg effect in cancer by AMPK activation and inhibition of the mTor pathway.

Recent studies have shown that phenformin and metformin are inhibitors of mitochondrial complex I, the former drug being more potent. Phenformin is less polar and more lipid soluble and exhibits a higher affinity for mitochondrial membranes than metformin. It has been demonstrated that phenformin also inhibits mitochondrial complex I to exert its antitumor effects in experimental models of cancer.

I replaced that with this, sourced to recent secondary sources, as every content policy calls us to do:

Vladimir Dilman first proposed in 1971 that biguanides like metformin and phenformin may have potential to treat cancer, prevent cancer, and to extend life, an idea that was subsequently supported by in vitro and animal studies, as well as an apparent reduction in the incidence of cancer in people taking metformin for diabetes. Laboratory studies attribute these apparent effects to inhibition of mTOR inhibition of complex I, and inhibition of AMP-activated protein kinase.

- Jytdog (talk) 02:48, 23 March 2016 (UTC)


 * I'd like to see the compare-and-contrast bit with metformin in the article (but as part of its chemistry, not as if it has anything to do with cancer). Other than that, I think the newer version is more encyclopedic.  That is, it's a better summary of the main points rather than a catalog of details and individual studies.  WhatamIdoing (talk) 15:51, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
 * a compare/contrast would be a good idea--Ozzie10aaaa (talk) 17:10, 23 March 2016 (UTC)


 * The Anisimov review (2014, Ann. Transl. Med.) makes me a bit twitchy. The guy's obviously been into the field for a long time, so he knows the arguments for his own side, but the piece may be geared more towards advocating for his position rather than presenting a balanced review of the literature.  The journal itself is too new to have an impact factor (only around since 2013), but doesn't look like it's going to be a particularly highly-cited venue; it's part of a stable of new open-access journals from a Chinese publisher I've never heard of.  While quality of English doesn't necessarily correlate closely with quality of science, the paper itself is in desperate need of basic copy editing.  (The title itself – "Do metformin a real anticarcinogen? A critical reappraisal of experimental data" &dnash; is just wrong.)  The author, Anisimov, also cites himself pretty heavily&mdash;24 out of 81 cites are his own papers, which is an awfully narrow field. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 19:13, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Thanks for catching that User:TenOfAllTrades - I missed that. i torpedoed that source. Jytdog (talk) 08:28, 28 March 2016 (UTC)