Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Dec 26, 2020; 12(12): 1455-1473
Published online Dec 26, 2020. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v12.i12.1455
Effect of metformin on stem cells: Molecular mechanism and clinical prospect
Lin-Li Jiang, Lei Liu
Lin-Li Jiang, Lei Liu, State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases & National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases & Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China
Author contributions: Jiang LL contributed to the literature review, and drafting and writing of this paper as the first author; Liu L contributed to the revision and editing of the manuscript, and gave approval to the final version as the corresponding author.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81670951.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no potential conflicts of interest to report.
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: Lei Liu, MD, PhD, Professor, State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases & National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases & Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, No. 14 Section 3 Renmin South Road, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China. drliulei@163.com
Received: June 16, 2020
Peer-review started: June 16, 2020
First decision: September 18, 2020
Revised: September 28, 2020
Accepted: October 23, 2020
Article in press: October 23, 2020
Published online: December 26, 2020
Processing time: 194 Days and 1.5 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: The effect of metformin on stem cells is quickly gaining attention, because metformin modulates various physiological activities and pathological changes via targeting stem cells. Emerging studies suggest that metformin has broad prospects in the fields of stem cell medicine, gerontology, regenerative medicine, and cancer therapy, etc. In this review, we summarize the effects of metformin on stem cells and provide an overview of its molecular mechanisms and clinical prospects.