(Ivanhoe Newswire) – A popular anti-diabetic drug can improve the immune
system and increase the effectiveness of vaccines and cancer treatments.
Research at McGill University and the University of Pennsylvania found the
diabetes treatment metformin, increases the efficiency of the immune system’s
T-cells, which in turn makes cancer and virus-fighting vaccines more effective.
The study shows the T-cells – the white blood cells of the human immune system-
remember pathogens they have encountered from previous infections or
vaccinations, allowing them to fight infections much faster. Researchers found
they can use diabetic therapies to manipulate T-cell response and enhance the
immune system’s response to infections and cancer.
“Many genes involved in diabetes regulation also play a role in cancer
progression,” Dr. Russell Jones, an assistant professor at McGill’s Goodman
Cancer Centre and the Department of Physiology was quoted saying. “There is also
a significant body of data suggesting that diabetics are more prone to certain
cancers. However, our study is the first to suggest that by targeting the same
metabolic pathways that play a role in diabetes, you can alter how well your
immune system functions.”
Recent advances have shown common links between cancer and diabetes, in
particular, how metabolic pathways, the basis chemical reactions that happen in
our cells, are controlled in these diseases. The results suggest that common
diabetic therapies which change cellular metabolism may improve T-cell memory,
providing a boost to the immune system.
SOURCE: Nature, June 2009
