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The diabetes drug shows potential in slowing prostate cancer progression
A drug used to treat type 2 diabetes may also be effective in slowing the progression of prostate cancer. This is shown by an international study in which researchers from Umeå University, Sweden, took part. Researchers have found that drugs that regulate a specific protein play a key role in reducing prostate cancer recurrence in diabetic patients. This is a significant discovery. For the first time, we have clinical observations showing that prostate cancer patients with diabetes who received drugs targeting the protein remained reticent during the period we followed them. “ Lukas Kenner, visiting professor at Umeå University and…
The diabetes drug shows potential in slowing prostate cancer progression
A drug used to treat type 2 diabetes may also be effective in slowing the progression of prostate cancer. This is shown by an international study in which researchers from Umeå University, Sweden, took part. Researchers have found that drugs that regulate a specific protein play a key role in reducing prostate cancer recurrence in diabetic patients.
This is a significant discovery. For the first time, we have clinical observations showing that prostate cancer patients with diabetes who received drugs targeting the protein remained reticent during the period we followed them. “
Lukas Kenner, visiting professor at Umeå University and one of the study's lead authors
The protein the researchers studied is called PPARY, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma. In diabetes research, PPARY has been extensively studied with regard to the protein's role in metabolic processes and insulin sensitivity.
What the research team led by Professor Kenner has now shown is that patients treated for prostate cancer who also had diabetes were treated with drugs that regulate the PPARY protein without treating recurrence of prostate cancer. In cell culture studies, the researchers also found that the drug in question, pioglitazone, not only inhibits the growth of prostate cancer cells, but also promotes metabolic reprogramming of the cancer cells and weakens their ability to grow.
“The results are very promising, but further clinical studies are needed to confirm the results and investigate whether the treatment can also be used in patients with prostate cancer who do not have diabetes,” says Lukas Kenner.
The research was conducted as a combination of cell and mouse studies and as a retrospective study of 69 prostate cancer patients with type 2 diabetes, followed by the Medical University of Innsbruck in 2014–2023.
In certain cancers, PPARγ can contribute to tumor growth or metabolic changes. The drug pioglitazone is a so-called agonist that binds to a PPARY receptor and activates it. By doing so, it modulates the signaling pathway and aims to counteract the tumor-promoting effects by altering cellular metabolism, but can also reduce inflammation.
The research group behind the study includes researchers in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, the United Kingdom and Sweden.
Sources:
Atas, E.,et al. (2025). The anti-diabetic PPARγ agonist pioglitazone inhibits cell proliferation and induces metabolic reprogramming in prostate cancer. Molecular cancer. doi.org/10.1186/s12943-025-02320-y.