Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Feb 11:13:800995.
doi: 10.3389/fendo.2022.800995. eCollection 2022.

The Relationship Between Diabetes Mellitus and Cancers and Its Underlying Mechanisms

Bing Zhu  1 , Shen Qu  1
Affiliations
Review

The Relationship Between Diabetes Mellitus and Cancers and Its Underlying Mechanisms

Bing Zhu et al. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Epidemiological studies suggest associations between diabetes mellitus and some cancers. The risk of a number of cancers appears to be increased in diabetes mellitus. On the other hand, some cancer and cancer therapies could lead to diabetes mellitus. Genetic factors, obesity, inflammation, oxidative stress, hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, cancer therapies, insulin and some oral hypoglycemic drugs appear to play a role in the crosstalk between diabetes mellitus and cancers. This review summarized the associations between various types of diabetes and cancers and updated available evidence of underlying mechanisms between diabetes and cancers.

Keywords: cancers; mechanism; type 1 diabetes; type 2 diabetes (T2D); type 3C diabetes mellitus.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of mechanisms underlying the association between diabetes mellitus and cancers. DPP-IV, dipeptidyl peptidase-IV; GLP-1, glucagon-like peptide-1.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Greenwood M, Wood F. The Relation Between the Cancer and Diabetes Death-Rates. J Hyg (Lond) (1914) 14:83–118. doi: 10.1017/s0022172400005702 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cignarelli A, Genchi VA, Caruso I, Natalicchio A, Perrini S, Laviola L, et al. Diabetes and Cancer: Pathophysiological Fundamentals of a ‘Dangerous Affair’. Diabetes Res Clin Pract (2018) 143:378–88. doi: 10.1016/j.diabres.2018.04.002 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Livingstone SJ, Levin D, Looker HC, Lindsay RS, Wild SH, Joss N, et al. Estimated Life Expectancy in a Scottish Cohort With Type 1 Diabetes, 2008-2010. JAMA (2015) 313:37–44. doi: 10.1001/jama.2014.16425 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Suh S, Kim KW. Diabetes and Cancer: Cancer Should Be Screened in Routine Diabetes Assessment. Diabetes Metab J (2019) 43:733–43. doi: 10.4093/dmj.2019.0177 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tsilidis KK, Kasimis JC, Lopez DS, Ntzani EE, Ioannidis JP. Type 2 Diabetes and Cancer: Umbrella Review of Meta-Analyses of Observational Studies. BMJ (2015) 350:g7607. doi: 10.1136/bmj.g7607 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types