Diabetes and cancer: Debating the link through Ca2+/cAMP signalling

Abstract

The incidence of both cancer and diabetes is dramatically increasing in worldwide population, costing many millions from governments into expenditures related to medical health systems. Diabetes has been clinically linked to an increased risk for developing several types of cancer. The cellular mechanisms involved in this link are still under intensive debate in literature. In addition, a Ca²⁺ homeostasis dysregulation has been intensively debated as an issue involved in both cancer and diabetes. Calcium (Ca²⁺) channel blockers (CCBs), prescribed for treating hypertension, have also been showing anti-cancer effects along with reducing diabetes symptoms. A debated mechanism of action could rest in the fact that CCBs may restore Ca²⁺ homeostasis dysregulations, involved in both diseases. Our studies about Ca²⁺/cAMP signalling may add some new light in this field. In this review, I have debated the possible involvement of Ca²⁺/cAMP signalling in the clinical link between diabetes and a higher risk for the development of several types of cancer, including the plausible involvement in both anti-cancer and anti-diabetic effects of CCBs.

Keywords: Ca(2+) channel blockers; Cell signalling; Diet; Insulin; Obesity; Tumor.