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Breast cancer patients with high levels of insulin
in their blood seem to be more likely to die of their disease. Researchers
found that insulin may predict whether a woman's breast cancer recurs
after therapy and whether she will die.
In a study of 535 breast cancer patients followed
for up to 10 years, those with the highest insulin levels were more than
eight times more likely to die and were almost four times as likely to
have their cancer recur at a distant site.
Although many of the women in the study were obese,
and obesity is known to affect both breast cancer prognosis and insulin
levels, obesity alone did not completely explain the link between insulin
and poorer cancer survival. Although insulin normally helps promote cell
growth, researchers hypothesize that in the breast, insulin can spur the
growth of both normal and cancerous cells.
Annual meeting of American Society
of Clinical Oncology, New Orleans, May 23
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