Diabetes Drug Rosiglitazone Boosts Potency of Platinum-based Chemotherapy Agents

The widely used diabetes drug rosiglitazone has been found to dramatically boost the potency of platinum-based cancer drugs when administered together in a variety of cancer cell lines and mice with tumors.

Rosiglitazone, sold under the name Avandia®, enhances insulin receptors’ sensitivity in diabetics whose pancreas secretes too little insulin. It was approved in 1999 for use by patients with type 2 diabetes to help control blood sugar levels.

Conducted by scientists from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the platinum chemotherapy agent-diabetes drug rosiglitazone combination halted or shrank mouse tumors as much as three times more effectively than either of the drugs given alone.

According to Bruce Spiegelman, PhD, senior author of the report:

“There’s still a huge gulf between these experiments and human cancers. But it’s worked in every animal model of cancer we’ve looked at, and I think there’s a fair chance it will help people.”

If the said combination demonstrates such synergistic effects in humans, it could improve the control of ovarian, lung and other cancers which are routinely treated with platinum-based chemotherapy.

Plans to bring this research into clinical trials are already underway and hope to commence sometime this year.

Study findings have been published in the May issue of the journal Cancer Cell.

Find more details from the full report.