Together, these data not only suggest a crucial involvement of mitochondrial metabolism in IL-1RA-promoted OSCC growth with participation of the EGFR/JNK/SOX2 pathway but also provide pre-clinical evidence for drug repurposing of metformin as an adjunctive treatment in combination with existing cancer therapies to enhance the therapeutic response [73, 74]. This evidence concerns the gene MAPK8 and cancer.