Diabetes or Cancer. The Same Drugs for Both?
Some of the same drugs can treat both diabetes and cancer
Scientists are finding links between medications used for diabetes and cancer.
In several cases, drugs for one disease are helping to control the other. In separate medical studies, researchers found that two drugs used against cancer, also appear to help against type-one diabetes.
One of those studies, which came out of the University of California in San Francisco, was done with mice. More research is needed before it's tried with humans.
But another study is showing a reverse effect for men at risk for prostate cancer. That risk was reduced if they took medications commonly used for diabetes. Those medications include metformin and insulin.
The researchers in Finland believe the medications may be changing the body's hormones in a way that fights cancer.
Posted Friday, Jul 17, 2009 - 4:50 PM CST
