Metformin Boosts Immune System in Mice

By Michael Smith, North American Correspondent, MedPage Today Published: June 04, 2009 Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and Dorothy Caputo, MA, RN, BC-ADM, CDE, Nurse Planner

TORONTO, June 4 -- In a surprise discovery, American and Canadian researchers found that the first-line diabetes drug metformin boosts long-term immune memory, at least in mice.

Action Points

The finding implies that drugs aimed at manipulating energy metabolism may be useful in boosting the immune response to vaccines, according to Yongwon Choi, Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal.

The drug (sold under various trade names) causes an increase in CD8-positive "memory" T cells that maintain the long-term immune response, Dr. Choi and colleagues reported in the June 4 Nature. /.../