764ROLE OF METFORMIN AND PACLITAXEL ALONE AND IN COMBINATION IN PRIMARY OVARIAN CANCER CELLSOvarian cancer is a lethal gynecological malignancy. Recurrence is common after first line surgery and chemotherapy due to emerging chemo resistance. Primary ovarian cancer cells represent an excellent opportunity to study the heterogeneity and drug resistance in ovarian cancer as compared to cell lines. Moreover, metformin has shown a promising role in array of cancers. Therefore, study of Metformin along with paclitaxel in primary cancer cells might play an important role in evaluating its chemo adjuvant potential. Cell viability assay and flow cytometric analysis of cell cycle distribution as well as apoptotic proteins expression was studied in these primary culture cells established from ascitic fluid after treatment with standardiz ed doses of metformin, paclitaxel alone and its combination. The primary cancer cells showed a wide variation in drug response. However, cells were arrested in G2/M phase, S phase following treatment with paclitaxel and metformin and increased apoptosis and modulation of apoptotic proteins was seen with combination of drugs compared to single agents despite variability in doses. The establishment of primary ovarian cancer cells from ascites of ovarian cancer Patients’ plays a pertinent role to understand drug response to metformin and paclitaxel and thereby develop patient tailored therapy according to chemo sensitivity profile of patientdr.seemapatel16@gmail.comResearch792016Primary culture,Metformin,Paclitaxel,Apoptosis.Seema Patel,Sharmistha Choudhuri,Neeta Singh,Lalit KumarDepartment of Biochemistry, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College & Safdarjung Hospital Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029, India,Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Post Graduate Education and Research, Kolkata 700020, India,Ex-Prof & Head, Department of Biochemistry, AIIMS, New Delhi,110029, India,Prof & Head, Medical Oncology, IRCH, AIIMS, New Delhi – 110029, India