Epifluorescent imaging study of the effect of anti-diabetic drug metformin on colorectal cancer cell lines in vitro

Metformin, a widely used anti-diabetic drug, has recently been associated with inhibition of cell proliferation in multiple cancers. However, it is not clear if the reduction in proliferation on treatment with metformin is a result of cell death or slowdown in the rate of growth of cancer cells, because cell viability assays measure only the number of cells at the beginning and end of the experiment. The aim of this study is to utilize a fluorescent imaging technique to directly follow cell death overtime in order to investigate the effect of metformin on colorectal cancer cells HCT116 and SW480. Epifluorescent imaging analysis carried out using ImageXpress Micro XLS High-Content Imaging System show that there is no significant change in cell death observed in the cancer cell lines, as compared to the control, over multiple closely spaced time points, suggesting that metformin in pharmacological doses may not be an effective inducer of cell death in these colon cancer cell lines.