Emerging evidence suggests that certain weight-loss medications could do more than help manage diabetes. They may also play a role in lowering cancer risk.
Researchers analyzed medical records from 170,000 individuals in the United States and found that people with diabetes who took GLP-1 receptor agonists such as Ozempic, Wegovy, and Zepbound had a modestly lower risk of developing obesity-related cancers than those who used older diabetes treatments not associated with weight loss.
While the research does not establish a direct cause-and-effect relationship, the findings point toward a potential new frontier in cancer prevention efforts. Researchers have linked more than a dozen types of cancer — including those affecting the breast, colon, and pancreas — to excess body weight.
“This is a call to scientists and clinical investigators to do more work in this area to really prove or disprove this,” Dr. Ernest Hawk of the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston said this; he did not participate in the study.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology released the results ahead of its annual conference in Chicago. Researchers at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine conducted the study, with support from the National Institutes of Health.
Regulators originally approved GLP-1 drugs to manage blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes and have now also approved them for weight loss. These injectable medications mimic gut hormones that help control hunger and satiety, though side effects like nausea and abdominal discomfort are common.
The researchers compared two similarly matched groups of patients with obesity and diabetes: one treated with GLP-1 drugs, the other with older medications like sitagliptin. After four years, the GLP-1 group showed a 7% lower incidence of obesity-related cancers and an 8% lower risk of death from any cause. In total, there were 2,501 cancer cases in the GLP-1 group, compared to 2,671 in the other.
Interestingly, the protective effect was statistically significant only in women, a finding the researchers could not fully explain. Potential contributing factors may include differences in how the drugs affect hormone levels, metabolism, or weight loss patterns between genders.
Lead author Lucas Mavromatis, a medical student at NYU and a former NIH research fellow, emphasized the need for further investigation. “Chronic disease and chronic disease prevention are some of my passions,” he noted.
As these findings spark scientific interest, larger and more rigorous studies may help determine whether these widely prescribed drugs can truly help prevent certain cancers in the long run.
Source: The Associated Press