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World J Clin Cases. Dec 26, 2020; 8(24): 6213-6228
Published online Dec 26, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i24.6213
Role of gut microbiome in regulating the effectiveness of metformin in reducing colorectal cancer in type 2 diabetes
Qi-You Huang, Fei Yao, Chuan-Ren Zhou, Xiao-Ying Huang, Qiang Wang, Hui Long, Qing-Ming Wu
Qi-You Huang, Fei Yao, Chuan-Ren Zhou, Xiao-Ying Huang, Qiang Wang, Qing-Ming Wu, Institute of Infection, Immunology and Tumor Microenvironment, Medical College, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430065, Hubei Province, China
Hui Long, Department of Gastroenterology, Tianyou Affiliated Hospital, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430064, Hubei Province, China
Author contributions: Huang QY and Wu QM designed the research review; Yao F, Zhou CR, and Huang XY collected relevant documents and sorted out the data; Wang Q and Long H analyzed the data and made critical revisions related to important intellectual content of the manuscript; Huang QY and Wu QM wrote the manuscript; All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81573239.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest associated with any of the senior author or other coauthors contributed their efforts in this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Qing-Ming Wu, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Professor, Institute of Infection, Immunology and Tumor Microenvironment, Medical College, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, No. 2 Huangjiahu West Road, Baishazhou Avenue, Hongshan District, Wuhan 430065, Hubei Province, China. wuhe9224@sina.com
Received: July 13, 2020
Peer-review started: July 13, 2020
First decision: September 30, 2020
Revised: October 13, 2020
Accepted: November 2, 2020
Article in press: November 2, 2020
Published online: December 26, 2020
Core Tip

Core Tip: Metformin has been found to reduce colorectal cancer in patients with type 2 diabetes, but the mechanism is unknown. Studies have confirmed that gut microbiota is not only closely related to type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer, but also mediates the effects of metformin. Therefore, we proposed the concept of the metformin-gut microbiota-colorectal cancer axis in type 2 diabetes mellitus. The concept also provides new ideas for clinical drug use, clinical cancer treatment, and clinical application of gut microbiota.