“These findings support the idea that metformin could be a potentially safe and well-tolerated drug for the prevention of ovarian fibrosis.”– Dr. Barbara VanderhydenThe diabetes drug metformin prevents fibrosis in the ovaries by adjusting the organ’s immune cells, according to a study in mice led by Dr. David Landry a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Barbara Vanderhyden’s group published in Science Advances.
This is important because fibrosis in the ovary, the accumulation of scar tissue that naturally increases with age, has been associated with a higher risk of ovarian cancer.
Dr. Vanderhyden’s team previously found that metformin could halt fibrosis in human ovaries, but how it was doing so was unknown. In this study, the researchers used single-cell sequencing to analyze the ovaries of older mice treated with metformin.
They found the drug shifted the types of collagen-producing cells present in the ovaries and caused a new type of immune cell to appear. These changes may be responsible for the prevention of ovarian fibrosis.
“These findings support the idea that metformin could be a potentially safe and well-tolerated drug for the prevention of ovarian fibrosis.”– Dr. Barbara Vanderhyden, senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital, professor at the University of Ottawa and Corinne Boyer Chair in Ovarian Cancer Research.
Authors: David A Landry, Edward Yakubovich, David P Cook, Sijyl Fasih, Jeremy Upham, Barbara C Vanderhyden
Core Resources: StemCore Laboratories, Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting Facility
Funding: Research at The Ottawa Hospital is possible because of generous donations to The Ottawa Hospital Foundation. In particular, this study was possible because of donations from the late educator Margaret Craig, who wished to fund innovative, high-risk research in ovarian cancer. The study was also supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
The Ottawa Hospital is a leading academic health, research and learning hospital proudly affiliated with the University of Ottawa and supported by The Ottawa Hospital Foundation.
