@article{discovery10101649,
           pages = {2349--2358},
          volume = {63},
            note = {This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.},
           title = {Evaluating the impact of AMPK activation, a target of metformin, on risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancer in the UK Biobank: A Mendelian randomization study},
            year = {2020},
       publisher = {Springer Verlag},
         journal = {Diabetologia},
           month = {November},
        abstract = {Aims/hypothesis:
Whether metformin reduces cardiovascular or cancer risk is unclear owing to concerns over immortal time bias and confounding in observational studies. This study evaluated the effect of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), the target of metformin, on risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Methods:
This is a Mendelian randomisation design, using AMPK, the pharmacological target of metformin, to infer the AMPK pathway-dependent effects of metformin on risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer in participants of white British ancestry in the UK Biobank.

Results:
A total of 391,199 participants were included (mean age 56.9 years; 54.1\% women), including 26,690 cases of type 2 diabetes, 38,098 cases of coronary artery disease and 80,941 cases of overall cancer. Genetically predicted reduction in HbA1c (\%) instrumented by AMPK variants was associated with a 61\% reduction in risk of type 2 diabetes (OR 0.39; 95\% CI 0.20, 0.78; p = 7.69 {$\times$} 10?3), a 53\% decrease in the risk of coronary artery disease (OR 0.47; 95\% CI 0.26, 0.84; p = 0.01) and a 44\% decrease in the risk of overall cancer (OR 0.56; 95\% CI 0.36, 0.85; p = 7.23 {$\times$} 10?3). Results were similar using median or quartiles of AMPK score, with dose-response effects (p for trend = 4.18 {$\times$} 10?3 for type 2 diabetes, 4.37 {$\times$} 10?3 for coronary artery disease and 4.04 {$\times$} 10?3 for overall cancer).

Conclusions/interpretation:
This study provides some genetic evidence that AMPK activation by metformin may protect against cardiovascular disease and cancer, which needs to be confirmed by randomised controlled trials.},
            issn = {0012-186X},
          author = {Luo, S and Schooling, CM and Wong, I and Yeung, SLA},
             url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-020-05243-z}
}