Diabetes and cancer: placing the association in perspective

The association of diabetes and cancer has received increased attention as data have emerged to indicate that the type of diabetes treatment may influence the risk of cancer, and that the risk of cancer among diabetic individuals can be reduced by intervention. The association of diabetes and pancreatic cancer is particularly strong, but often misunderstood. Long-standing type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes increase the risk for this malignancy, but the cancer can also induce pancreatogenic, or type 3c, diabetes as well.

This review covers the recent findings which help to clarify these relationships, and offers guidance for prevention, early detection, and treatment. Obesity and, separately, diabetes increase the risk of several common malignancies by about two-fold. This risk is reduced by successful treatments. Type 3c diabetes is more common than previously realized, and strategies to differentiate type 3c diabetes from type 2 diabetes, to identify those candidates who will benefit from screening studies, are discussed.

The death rate because of pancreatic and other cancers can be reduced by an aggressive approach to reversing obesity and hyperinsulinemia, achieving good glycemic control in diabetic patients, and identifying at an early timepoint those patients with pancreatogenic diabetes.