Antidiabetic Therapies Affect Risk of Pancreatic Cancer
Open accessAbstract
Background & aims Antidiabetic drugs have been found to have various effects on cancer in experimental systems and in epidemiologic studies, although the association between these therapeutics and the risk of human pancreatic cancer has not been explored. We investigated the effect of antidiabetic therapies on the risk of pancreatic cancer.Methods A hospital-based case-control study was conducted at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center from 2004 to 2008 involving 973 patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma (including 259 diabetic patients) and 863 controls (including 109 diabetic patients). Information on diabetes history and other risk factors was collected by personal interview. The frequencies of use of insulin, insulin secretagogues, metformin, and other antidiabetic medications among diabetic patients were compared between cases and controls. The risk of pancreatic cancer was estimated using unconditional logistic regression analysis.Results Diabetic patients who had taken metformin had a significantly lower risk of pancreatic cancer compared with those who had not taken metformin (odds ratio, 0.38; 95% confidence interval, 0.22-0.69; P = .001), with adjustments for potential confounders. This difference remained statistically significant when the analysis was restricted to patients with a duration of diabetes >2 years or those who never used insulin. In contrast, diabetic patients who had taken insulin or insulin secretagogues had a significantly higher risk of pancreatic cancer compared with diabetic patients who had not taken these drugs.Conclusions Metformin use was associated with reduced risk, and insulin or insulin secretagogue use was associated with increased risk of pancreatic cancer in diabetic patients.
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Patients with type 2 diabetes who are prescribed metformin had a lower risk of cancer compared to patients who did not take it.
“Patients with type 2 diabetes who are prescribed metformin had a lower risk of cancer compared to patients who did not take it.”
From Metformin: An Old But Still the Best Treatment for Type 2 Diabetes (2013) · cites this paper as [135]
The reduced risk of cancer and cancer mortality observed in studies of metformin users has been consistently in the range of 25% to 30%.
“The reduced risk of cancer and cancer mortality observed in these studies has been consistently in the range of 25% to 30% [135-139,145-147].”
From Metformin: An Old But Still the Best Treatment for Type 2 Diabetes (2013) · cites this paper as [135]
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- Authors
- Li, D., Yeung, S. J., Hassan, M. M., Konopleva, M., & Abbruzzese, J. L.
- Affiliations
- The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Li, Donghui
- Venue
- Gastroenterology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2009-08
- Volume
- 137
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 482-488
- ISSN
- 0016-5085 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2735093
- OpenAlex
- W2100358697
- Cited by
- 584
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 34 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 30 · 2016: 42 · 2015: 37 · 2014: 64 · 2013: 64 · 2012: 60
- FWCI
- 23.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Gastroenterology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (CA101936, CA98380)
- University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Metabolism, Diabetes, and Cancer
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Pancreatic and Hepatic Oncology Research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cancer Research › Cancer, Lipids, and Metabolism
- Keywords
- pancreatic cancer, antidiabetic drugs, metformin, insulin, insulin secretagogues, diabetes mellitus, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, cancer risk
- MeSH terms
- Adenocarcinoma, Aged, Cancer Care Facilities, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Female, Humans, Hypoglycemic Agents, Insulin, Male, Metformin, Middle Aged, Pancreatic Neoplasms, Probability, Prognosis, Reference Values, Retrospective Studies, Comorbidity, Causality, Incidence, Survival Rate, Confidence Intervals, Odds Ratio, Case-Control Studies, Age Distribution, Sex Distribution, Risk Assessment
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