Diabetes Drug May Offer New Hope for Prostate Cancer Treatment
A global research team led by the Medical University of Vienna has discovered an important link between the biological mechanisms of diabetes and prostate cancer. Their findings suggest that PPARγ, a protein known for its role in regulating metabolism and targeted by some type 2 diabetes drugs, may also influence the development of prostate cancer.
PPARγ (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma) has long been a focus in diabetes research due to its impact on insulin sensitivity. Drugs like pioglitazone, part of the thiazolidinedione class, act on this protein to treat type 2 diabetes. Now, scientists believe these same medications might offer a novel path for targeted cancer therapy.
Led by pathologist Lukas Kenner at MedUni Vienna, the research team explored how prostate cancer cells respond to different states of PPARγ activity. Using cell cultures and tissue samples from cancer patients, they observed that activating PPARγ — as pioglitazone does — appears to reduce tumor growth and metabolism.
“Our results indicate that pioglitazone can influence the behaviour of prostate cancer cells by modulating PPARγ activity,” said Emine Atas, lead author from the Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy. “Interestingly, diabetic prostate cancer patients receiving PPARγ agonists had no disease recurrence at the time of analysis.”
These findings, published in Molecular Cancer, point toward the possibility of repurposing diabetes drugs to treat prostate cancer, which is currently the second most frequently diagnosed cancer in men globally. Despite progress in treatment through surgery, radiotherapy, and drug therapies, the disease still causes significant mortality — accounting for around one in every eight male cancer deaths in Austria alone.
The research suggests that targeting PPARγ could provide a new direction in cancer treatment. As a gene activator, the protein is involved in key biological processes like cell growth, inflammation, and metabolism, making it a promising therapeutic target. Scientists plan to explore this further in upcoming studies.
