New Delhi, Aug 27
People with Type 2 obesity-driven diabetes tend to have more aggressive breast cancers. A new study showed that blood factors drive breast cancer aggression.
Researchers at Boston University, US, showed that tiny particles in the blood -- known as exosomes -- get altered by diabetes. These exosomes can reprogramme immune cells inside tumours, making them weaker and allowing the cancer to grow and spread more easily.
“Breast cancer is already challenging to treat, and people with type 2 diabetes have worse outcomes, but clinicians don’t fully understand why,” said corresponding author Gerald Denis, Professor at BU.
“Our study reveals one possible reason: diabetes changes the way the immune system works inside tumours. This could help explain why current treatments, like immunotherapy, don’t work as well in patients with diabetes. Knowing this opens the door to better, more personalised treatments for millions of people,” Denis added.
In the study, researchers used tumour samples from breast cancer patients to grow 3D tumour models in the lab.