Diabetes and prostate cancer prognosis
A group of researchers from the German Diabetes Research Center in Tübingen, the Center named after Helmholtz in Munich and the urological department of the clinic at the University of Tübingen (Germany) proved that patients suffering from diabetes are less likely to get sick, but more likely to die from prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer and diabetes mellitus are among the most common diseases affecting older men. Studies show that patients with diabetes mellitus are more susceptible to cancer. But specifically prostate cancer is less common among them than in men without diabetes.
German researchers analyzed data from patients who underwent prostatectomy (removal of the prostate gland) due to cancer. As expected, the percentage of diabetic patients among them was less than in the general population. But in combination with diabetes, prostate cancer proceeded more aggressively and metastasized more often to regional lymph nodes.
A: the risk of prostate cancer, calculated from the data of 74 patients with diabetes mellitus and 148 patients without it.
Q: the frequency of metastasis to the lymph nodes in 74 patients with diabetes mellitus (calculated at the time of prostatectomy) and 148 patients with normal carbohydrate metabolism.
Source: IDM.
Why does prostate cancer occur less often in diabetes mellitus, but proceeds more aggressively?
To answer this question, the researchers analyzed 70 samples of removed prostate cancer in patients without diabetes and 59 samples in patients with type 2 diabetes.
The expression of genes of key proteins was evaluated. The analysis showed that men with diabetes mellitus have a higher number of active androgen receptors. The signaling pathway triggered by androgen receptors was also more active.
The researchers noted that the isoform A of insulin receptors is most active in tumor samples of patients with diabetes mellitus. This type of receptor binds insulin-like growth factor. As a result, cell growth and division increases. Normally, isoform B prevails in adults, which does not bind insulin-like growth factor.
In addition, the biosynthesis of steroids is disrupted in the tumor samples of patients with diabetes mellitus: estrogen receptor ligands predominate, which protect less from the proliferation of cancer cells.
Thus, prostate adenocarcinoma in men suffering from diabetes mellitus, although it occurs less often, it is more severe and more often leads to death.
It follows from this that in the presence of type 2 diabetes mellitus, men should be examined more carefully for early detection and timely treatment of prostate cancer.
Article by Lutz et al. Androgen receptor overexpression in prostate cancer in type 2 diabetes is published in the journal Molecular Metabolism; the second article, with the same first author, Higher prevalence of lymph node metastasis in prostate cancer in patients with diabetes, is published in the journal Endocrine-Related Cancer.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of DZD: Prostate cancer: Poor prognosis in men with diabetes.