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Fig. 1 | Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research

Fig. 1

From: Metformin in colorectal cancer: molecular mechanism, preclinical and clinical aspects

Fig. 1

The anticancer molecular mechanisms mediated by metformin through the modulation of AMPK and cellular energy homeostasis. Metformin mainly modulates AMPK activation through LKB1 which activates and/or inactivates various downstream signalling targets such as mTOR, PTEN/PI3K-Akt, MAPKs, transcription factors (NF-κB, FOXO) and p53. The activation of these signalling pathways induce oxidative stress, apoptosis and cell cycle arrestment that inhibited formation of ACF and tumorigenesis in the colon cancer cell while suppressing cellular inflammation that is responsible to promote cell proliferation. The signalling activation or inhibition mediated by metformin is denoted by the red arrows and inhibition arrows, reversing the tumorigenesis mechanism indicated by the blue arrows

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