Breast cancer and type 2 diabetes look like very different diseases, but scientists believe there are associations between them. In a study published last Monday (30/5) in the scientific journal Nature Cell Biology, a possible biological mechanism that connects the breast tumor and diabetes is described, especially in relation to the reduction of insulin production (which increases the level of glucose in the blood).
The problem would be linked to extracellular vesicles, hollow spheres secreted or released by cells to transport DNA, RNA, proteins, fats and other materials between them, in a kind of cargo system.
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As the American website News Medical shows, the study carried out on guinea pigs found that cancer cells were secreting microRNA-122 through the vesicles. When these spheres reached the pancreas, they could enter the cells responsible for producing insulin and release the charge of microRNA-122. This can damage the function of pancreatic cells that help maintain normal blood glucose levels.
“Cancer cells like sweets. They use more glucose than healthy cells to fuel tumor growth, and this has been the basis for cancer screening. While depriving normal cells of this essential nutrient,” says researcher Shizhen Emily Wang, from the University of California, San Diego, USA, one of the authors of the study, quoted by the medical news website.
In research conducted on mice, the scientists found that slow-release insulin pills or a glucose-lowering drug (known as an SGLT2 inhibitor) was able to restore normal glucose control in the presence of breast cancer, including helping to suppress the tumor growth.
“These findings support an increased need for diabetes screening and prevention among breast cancer patients and survivors,” says Wang, noting that a microRNA-122 inhibitor compound is in clinical trial phase as a potential treatment for chronic hepatitis C. It is also shown to be effective in restoring normal insulin production and suppressing cancer growth in guinea pigs.
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