Rethinking the Relationship between Insulin and Cancer.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review discussing mechanisms and clinical relevance without systematic review methodology or new human data
PubMed 32600959 · doi:10.1016/j.tem.2020.05.004
What was done
This narrative review examines the relationship between insulin, hyperinsulinemic conditions (obesity, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome), and cancer incidence and prognosis, focusing on insulin's role as a mitogenic growth factor.
What was found
The abstract reports no quantitative data. It states that insulin acts as a mitogenic growth factor, malignant cells frequently overexpress the insulin receptor, and patients with hyperinsulinemic metabolic diseases experience higher cancer incidence and cancer-related mortality. It also notes that clinical studies have not clarified the extent to which hyperinsulinemia directly drives cancer occurrence and outcomes.
Why it matters
Given the worldwide rise in metabolic disorders and the widespread therapeutic use of insulin and its analogs, understanding whether hyperinsulinemia directly drives carcinogenesis is clinically significant for evaluating treatment safety.
Limits
This is a narrative review that introduces no new clinical data and does not follow a systematic review methodology. The abstract provides no quantitative metrics, specific tumor data, or study counts.
Cited by
- supports Insulin directly affects every single cell in the human body.