An international team of scientists led by the Medical University of Vienna has identified similarities in the mechanisms of diabetes and cancer: as the researchers show, the protein PPARγ, which is central to the regulation of metabolic processes, can also influence the growth of prostate cancer cells. PPARγ is already known to be a target of certain drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes. The results of the study, which have been published in the leading journal Molecular Cancer, indicate that such drugs could also represent a promising approach for the treatment of prostate cancer.

PPARγ has been known in diabetes research for quite some time, as it has an influence on insulin sensitivity. For more than 20 years, the protein has been the target of certain medications, including so-called thiazolidinediones such as pioglitazone, which are used to treat type 2 diabetes. In the search for new, targeted therapeutic approaches for tumours, cancer research has also been looking at this for several years. PPARγ (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma) is a transcription factor that plays an important role in the regulation of metabolic processes, inflammatory reactions and cell growth as a gene activator. As the research team led by Lukas Kenner (Clinical Department of Pathology at MedUni Vienna) has now shown, it is also associated with the growth of prostate cancer.

Altered growth behaviour of tumour cells
The researchers came to this conclusion by examining cell cultures and tissue samples from patient cohorts. They analysed how different activation states of the protein affect the cells. "It was shown that the diabetes drug pioglitazone influences the activity of PPARγ and thus inhibits the growth behaviour and metabolism of tumour cells. Furthermore, initial results revealed that prostate cancer patients with diabetes who were treated with PPARγ agonists had not relapsed at the time of data collection," explains first author Emine Atas (MedUni Vienna's Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy). "This suggests that drugs that target PPARγ could represent a new approach to the treatment of prostate cancer," explains principal investigator Lukas Kenner.

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men worldwide. Despite enormous medical advances in recent years, in Austria alone this type of tumour is still responsible for one in eight cancer deaths in men. The currently available treatment methods range from surgery and radiotherapy to medication. The identification of previously unknown molecular mechanisms could help to develop targeted therapies. PPARγ, as a potential regulator of tumour growth, is a promising option here, which will now be investigated in further studies.

Publication: Molecular Cancer
The anti-diabetic PPARγ agonist Pioglitazone inhibits cell proliferation and induces metabolic reprogramming in prostate cancer.
Emine Atas, Kerstin Berchtold, Michaela Schlederer, Sophie Prodinger, Felix Sternberg, Perla Pucci, Christopher Steel, Jamie D. Matthews, Emily R. James, Cécile Philippe, Karolína Trachtová, Ali A. Moazzami, Nastasiia Artamonova, Felix Melchior, Torben Redmer, Gerald Timelthaler, Elena E. Pohl, Suzanne D. Turner, Isabel Heidegger, Marcus Krueger, Ulrike Resch, Lukas Kenner.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12943-025-02320-y