A Pilot Study of Metformin Treatment in Patients With Well-differentiated Neuroendocrine Tumors

Summary

Neuroendocrine tumors are rare but recent data showed a relevant increase in its incidence. The Mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR), one of most important area of research, has demonstrated be a therapeutic target in these tumors. The metformin has demonstrate in preclinical studies having an antineoplastic action by inhibiting the mTOR pathway, and may be an alternative treatment for this disease. Eligible patients for this study should have metastatic gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors well differentiated (grade 1 or grade 2) and will be treated with metformin 850 mg every 12 hours, and each cycle will consist of 30 days. After 180 days of treatment the efficacy of metformin under the control of disease progression will be evaluated. As a secondary outcome the investigator will check the patient adherence to the treatment, the control of patient symptoms with functioning neuroendocrine tumor, and disease free survival. Also will be performed an analysis of immunohistochemical expression of mTOR pathway proteins of these patients.

Timeline

Start

2014-03

Primary completion

2017-12

Completion

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Drugs

Indications