A major new study has uncovered a connection between GLP-1 agonists, medication prescribed for weight loss and diabetes control, and reduced rates of breast cancer diagnosis. Researchers are hopeful this could mark the beginning of a new prevention strategy for breast cancer.
The analysis examined more than 110,000 overweight or obese women aged between 45 and 80. The published findings revealed that women taking GLP-1 medications were approximately 30% less likely to develop breast cancer.
Researchers emphasised that this was purely an ‘observational’ study, which means it cannot definitively establish that the drugs themselves are solely responsible for this reduced breast cancer risk.
That said, several other studies have also identified a comparable association between the drugs and cancer risk. Elizabeth McDonald, a professor of radiology in Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, explained how this could represent an exciting new avenue for investigating cancer prevention methods.
She said: “GLP-1 medications are intriguing from a cancer research perspective because they weren’t designed for cancer therapy, but they do affect many different targets and pathways associated with cancer development, so we’re eager to study them in this context.
“While our study was observational and does not definitively confirm an association between GLP-1 medications and reduced breast cancer incidence, it does add to the growing body of evidence suggesting that it’s worth investigating these weight-loss drugs as potential cancer prevention tools.”
The research was published in the JCO Oncology Practice journal.
Various lifestyle factors can influence a person’s risk of breast cancer. One such factor is being overweight or obese, which can heighten the risk of developing this condition.
Experts suggest that because GLP-1 medications aid weight loss and improve metabolic health, this could be triggering a knock-on effect resulting in a reduced risk of breast cancer.
According to Cancer Research UK, almost 60,000 new breast cancer cases are diagnosed annually and approximately 11,200 deaths from the disease are recorded each year. The charity also highlights that roughly 23% of breast cancer cases could be prevented through modifiable lifestyle factors.
Additional modifiable lifestyle factors include smoking, which carries a slightly increased risk of breast cancer. Consuming alcohol also raises the risk of breast cancer with every additional unit of alcohol per day.
Women taking certain treatments like the contraceptive pill or hormone replacement therapy also face a heightened risk of breast cancer.
Original source: gb