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High insulin levels and insulin resistance may predict risk of pancreatic cancer
Lifestyle changes may also help reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer.
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Exposure to higher insulin concentrations and insulin resistance may predict a patient’s risk of developing exocrine pancreatic cancer.
A recent study led by Rachael Stolzenberg-Solomon, PhD, from the division of cancer epidemiology and genetics at the National Cancer Institute, has found that the associations between diabetes mellitus, higher glucose concentration and pancreatic cancer may be explained by higher insulin concentrations and insulin resistance. The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Although previous studies have shown that obesity, diabetes and glucose intolerance may be associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer risk, this is the first study to examine the predictive value of prediagnostic serum insulin concentration.
Studying smokers
The researchers examined data from the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study (1985 to 1988), which included 29,133 male Finnish smokers who were between the ages of 50 and 69 at baseline.
A total of 169 patients developed pancreatic cancer during the follow-up period of almost 17 years.
Stolzenberg-Solomon and colleagues examined patients’ prediagnostic fasting glucose and insulin concentrations, as well as insulin resistance, to determine their association with subsequent risk of exocrine pancreatic cancer.
The researchers noted that patients who developed pancreatic cancer were typically older, had smoked for more years and were more likely to have higher fasting glucose concentrations and/or diabetes.
After making adjustments for such factors as age, smoking status and BMI, the results demonstrated that higher baseline fasting serum concentrations of glucose, insulin, and insulin resistance were positively associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer.
The presence of diabetes was associated with a twofold increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Patients who had an insulin concentration in the highest quartile were twice as likely to develop pancreatic cancer as those in the lowest quartile.
Reducing risk
“Our glucose and diabetes results are consistent with other study results from populations that include women and nonsmokers,” Stolzenburg-Solomon told Endocrine Today. “However, our insulin findings need to be replicated in these other populations before conclusions can be made.”
The researchers said that lifestyle interventions could help reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer.
“Lifestyle changes to decrease glucose and insulin concentrations through weight reduction, increasing physical activity, and diet, such as decreasing saturated fat intake, and identification of other modifiable factors that may contribute to higher glucose and insulin concentrations could possibly impact pancreatic cancer development, as well as other cancer and chronic disease,” they wrote. – by Jay Lewis
For more information:
- Stolzenberg-Solomon R, Graubard B, Chari S, et al. Insulin, glucose, insulin resistance, and pancreatic cancer in male smokers. JAMA. 2005;294:2872-2878.