Diabetes drugs may prevent risk of lung cancer

Specific drugs used to treat diabetes, such as the commonly used metformin, could also prevent and even contain lung cancer, a study presented by the American College of Chest Physicians finds.

The results, being presented Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians in Vancouver, back up preliminary data that some diabetes medications might protect against tobacco-induced lung cancer.

For the study, researchers evaluated the records of more than 600 people with diabetes and lung cancer.

The research involved an assessment of the medical records of 157 patients who had survived lung cancer and who also had diabetes. People who had taken either a metformin drug or a TZD were significantly less likely to have advanced lung cancer that had spread.

Tens of millions of Americans use both metformin and the class of drugs known as thiazolidinediones that includes Avandia and Actos.

Metformin, an older and cheaper drug available generically, had a more powerful effect than newer drugs called thiazolidinediones, TZDs or glitazones. This diabetes drug is typically, the first choice for a diabetic patient beginning drug treatment. It’s been around for decades and is considered a very safe drug. Other advantages include the fact that it doesn’t cause weight gain, as do some other diabetes medications.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. and around the world. There are two types of lung cancer: non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which accounts for approximately 80% of cases; and small cell lung cancer, which makes up for the remaining 20%. Squamous cell carcinoma is the most common type of NSCLC. The National Cancer Institute calculates that 222,520 new cases of all types of lung cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2010, and that 157,300 people will die of the disease in that year.