Diabetes Drug May Help Treat Prostate Cancer: Study

New Delhi: Certain drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes can also be used to treat prostate cancer, according to a study.

Researchers from the Medical University of Vienna in Austria identified similarities in the mechanisms of diabetes and cancer.

They showed that the protein PPARγ (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma) -- central to the regulation of metabolic processes -- can also influence the growth of prostate cancer cells.

The findings "showed that the diabetes drug pioglitazone influences the activity of PPARγ and thus inhibits the growth behaviour and metabolism of tumour cells. Furthermore, initial results revealed that prostate cancer patients with diabetes who were treated with PPARγ agonists had not relapsed at the time of data collection," explained Emine Atas from the Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy at the varsity.