Researchers at Case Western Reserve University say certain diabetes drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes may reduce the risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC). These drugs, called glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, or GLP-1 RAs, are drugs given by injection that lower blood sugar levels, improve insulin sensitivity, and help with weight management. This class of drugs has recently become popular as weight loss drugs as well.
The results of the study were: Published in this week’s magazine JAMA Oncology.
“Our results clearly show that GLP-1 RAs are significantly more effective than common antidiabetic drugs such as metformin and insulin in preventing the development of colorectal cancer,” said the co-leads. said researcher Professor Nathan Berger of Case Western Conservancy. Faculty of Medicine.
Rong Xu, co-principal investigator and professor at the School of Medicine, added: “To our knowledge, this is the first example showing that a drug in this popular weight loss and antidiabetic drug class reduces the incidence of colorectal cancer compared to other antidiabetic drugs.”
GLP-1 RA has also been shown to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease and colorectal cancer, which is considered an obesity-related cancer, regardless of whether the patient is overweight or obese. This study showed that it confers a protective effect on.
GLP-1 receptors are G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) that, when bound to GLP-1 ligands, activate signaling pathways that regulate insulin secretion, glucose metabolism, and suppress hunger. GLP-1 is released by L cells in the intestine in response to the presence of nutrients.
Because of the role of the intestine in releasing GLP-1, Case Western researchers believe that in addition to being effective as a diabetes and weight loss drug, GLP-1 RA may also prevent the development of colorectal cancer. I hypothesized that there is.
For their retrospective study, researchers utilized a national database containing more than 100 million electronic health records (EHRs). The research team conducted the study on data from more than 1.2 million patients treated with diabetes drugs between 2005 and 2019. The Case Western team then compared the incidence of colorectal cancer in patients treated with GLP-1 RAs. People who were being treated by other means.
Among over 22,527 patients treated with insulin, there were 167 reported cases of colorectal cancer, whereas in the matched set of 22,527 patients treated with GLP-1 RA, there were only 94 cases of colorectal cancer. , the incidence was 44 percent lower. Similarly, a matched set of 18,518 patients treated with either metformin versus GLP-1 RA showed a 25 percent reduction in colorectal cancer development in the GLP-1 RA group.
Study limitations include potential unmeasured or uncontrolled confounders, self-selection, reverse causation, and other biases inherent in observational studies. Therefore, the research team will investigate the effects, underlying mechanisms, potential differential effects within GLP-1RA, and the impact of GLP-1RA on other obesity-related cancers in patients who have received previous anti-diabetic therapy. pointed out that further research is needed.