Prostate cancer is the most common cancer after skin cancer and the most cancer deaths in men after lung cancer. Doxorubicin in an effective therapeutic agent in treatment of cancer and similar to other chemotherapy drugs have many side effects. Studies have shown that Metformin as a hypoglycemic agent in treatment of type ǁ diabetes, has a protective effect against oxidative stress induced by doxorubicin in cardiomyocytes. In this study the role of metformin in entry of doxorubicin into the prostate cancer cells DU145, has been evaluated by fluorescence microscopy and UV-VIS spectroscopy methods. For this purpose, cells were exposed to metformin (5,10 mg/ml) and doxorubicin (10µM) individually or in combination for six hours. Then the cell medium was collected and its UV spectrum obtained in 400-600 nm area by UV-VIS spectrophotometer and the fluorescence intensity was investigated by fluorescence microscopy. Fluorescence microscopy results showed that the fluorescence intensity of cells treated with a combination of doxorubicin and metformin is increased campared with control cells (treated with doxorubicin 10µM only). UV spectra also show a decrease in the absorption peak of combined concentration of doxorubicin and metformin than doxorubicin alone. The result of this study showed that metformin increases the entry of doxorubicin into the DU145 cells and the use of doxorubicin in combination with metformin could possibly reduce drug dose and thus its side effects.

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