Metformin Use and the Outcome of Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Treated with Sunitinib or Pazopanib

Background The anticancer properties of metformin have been suggested in numerous experimental studies and several retrospective clinical studies show that its use is associated with improved outcome of patients with cancer. However, limited data are available for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) treated with targeted therapy. The aim of this retrospective study was to assess the impact of the metformin use on survival of mRCC patients treated with sunitinib or pazopanib. Methods Clinical data from 343 patients with mRCC treated with sunitinib or pazopanib in the first line were analyzed. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were compared according to the use of metformin. Results The median PFS and OS for patients using metformin was 31.1 (95% CI 20.6-35.1) and 51.6 (95% CI 44.7-NR) months compared to 9.3 (95% CI 8.0-12.0) and 22.4 (95% CI 19.4-26.8) months for patients not using metformin (p<0.0001 and p=0.0002, respectively). Cox multivariate analysis shows that the use of metformin remains a significant factor for PFS (HR=0.55 [95% CI 0.343-0.883], p=0.013) and also for OS (HR=0.45 [95% CI 0.256-0.794], p=0.006). Conclusion The present study results suggest that the use of metformin was associated with favorable outcome of mRCC patients treated with sunitinib or pazopanib.