Genetic link found between type 2 diabetes and cancers

Type 2 diabetes shares genetic connections with breast, bowel and pancreatic cancer, according to a study which could pave the way for new ways of preventing disease.

For the first time, researchers identified that two specific genetic variants – sequences of genes – are key contributors to people developing type 2 diabetes and cancer.

One variant was linked to the risk of developing breast cancer and type 2 diabetes, while the other affected type 2 diabetes and breast, bowel and pancreatic cancer risks.

The study concluded that people carrying either of these genetic variants will have an increased chance of developing type 2 diabetes and the cancers.

The work further identified 17 variants that directly increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and then, via biological processes linked to the condition, indirectly increase cancer risk.

It is thought that this is because type 2 diabetes creates an environment that makes it easier for cancer to develop, through higher blood sugar and insulin levels, obesity, inflammation and hormonal changes.

Diabetes UK, which partfunded the research, said that the findings helped to highlight how the millions of people in the UK with type 2 diabetes are at increased risk of breast, bowel and pancreatic cancer.

The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed or published in a medical journal, was led by Professor Inga Prokopenko at the University of Surrey and is being presented today at the Diabetes UK Professional Conference in London.

More than five million people in the UK are diabetic, of whom 90 per cent have type 2.