Research Paper Volume 4, Issue 7 pp 480—498

Metabolomic fingerprint reveals that metformin impairs one-carbon metabolism in a manner similar to the antifolate class of chemotherapy drugs

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Figure 1. Application of nano-HPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS for the metabolomic analysis of metformin-treated breast cancer cells.

(A) (-)-nano-HPLC/ESI QTOF mass spectra derived from MCF-7, BT-474, and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell lines treated with 1 mmol/L and 10 mmol/L metformin. (B) Accumulation of 5-formimino-tetrahydrofolate following treatment with metformin in breast cancer cells. Figure shows an enlarged section of the spectra acquired on aqueous extracts of breast cancer cells following 48 h of treatment with either solvent control or 10 mmol/L metformin.