According to a study, some medications used to treat type 2 diabetes can also be used to treat prostate cancer.
The mechanisms of diabetes and cancer are comparable, according to research from the Medical University of Vienna in Austria.
They demonstrated that the proliferation of prostate cancer cells can also be influenced by the protein PPARγ (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma), which is essential for controlling metabolic activities.
However, several medications, such as so-called thiazolidinediones like pioglitazone, which are used to treat type 2 diabetes, are already known to target PPARγ.
The results demonstrated that pioglitazone, a medication used to treat diabetes, affects PPARγ activation and hence suppresses tumor cell growth and metabolism. Additionally, preliminary findings showed that PPARγ agonist-treated prostate cancer patients with diabetes had not experienced a relapse at the time of data collection, according to Emine Atas of the varsity’s Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy.
According to a study that was published in the journal Molecular Cancer, these medications may be able to halt the growth of prostate cancer cells, which is a promising therapy strategy.
Cell cultures and tissue samples from patient cohorts were analyzed by the researchers. They examined the effects of the protein’s various activation states on the cells.
When aberrant cells in the prostate gland proliferate uncontrollably, prostate cancer results. Prostate cancer is the most frequent cancer in males, with an expected 1.4 million diagnoses and 375,000 deaths globally in 2020, despite significant treatment advancements in recent years.
Currently available treatment options include medication, radiation, and surgery. Targeted treatment development may benefit from the discovery of hitherto unidentified molecular pathways.
According to the researchers, PPARγ is a good candidate that will now be examined in additional research as a possible regulator of tumor growth.
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